Potomic Horse Fever or Dr. Sean Archibald saves the day(long)

[paddi <seamstob@telusplanet.net>]

My young mare Sarah has Potomac Horse Fever. She was vaccinated in the
spring and a booster 2 weeks later.
This did not stop her from catching it but she is the first case of a
vaccinated horse catching Potomac that my vet knows of.
Sean has a great interest in Potomac and has written articles on it. I
live in the Devon river valley and it seems to be quite common here.
 I am praying we caught it early enough that she does not founder.

We returned from a ride on July12 her first LD and she came through with
straight A's My friend rode her and they went slow and steady taking
almost 6 hours to complete. We trailered home and for 2 days she was
fine. She started to get a little tired and listless. She was eating and
drinking . A huge mosquito hatch had happened and I figured she was a
little run down from moving all night with the other horses. They are
older and much better stamina to trot around all night. Even fly spray
and a smudge didn't deter these bugs.
By the weekend when she had stopped eating almost completely I was
getting worried. I hauled her off to a clinic for blood work .Dr. Sean
takes Sunday, Monday off so this was another clinic an hour and 1/2
away.  They were very good and checked her over. Her blood work showed
signs of a problem.( i should mention that at no time did she run a
fever. )and she had a slightly snotty nose starting so they put me on
strangle alert and sent us home. I called Thurs morning and said no
strangles had appeared. It was suggested she go on penicillin 40cc per
day to fight off whatever infection was bruing. I cackled up to called
Equine to see if they had a bottle of penicillin as I did not have
enough at home. Elaine (bless her heart) insisted that I talk to Sean
first and he asked to see the blood tests. I had them faxed over.
 Sarah had not drank or eaten a thing since the night before. She just
stood under a tree with her head hanging. She had not had a bowel
movement at all. Wed. night she had a cow pie movement but since I had
given her a probotic I thought that caused it. She went once and not
again. It wasn't until late after noon that the diarrhea started.
Diarrhea is usually one of the first signs of Potomac.
Dr. Sean came over after a long day at work and spent 3 hours with her.
He IV'd 10 liters of fluid to help her cope with what was going out the
back end, treated her with antibiotics . He will be back for follow up
and more treatment today.
Sean saw warning signs in her blood work that warned him right away. I
don't think the other vet thought Potomac since it is a problem near the
river and I trailered her out of the area . It is not a problem in that
area.
 Sarah should be fine in a week and I am very greatful to all vets who
work long hours for our horses
Paddi