Re: intranasal vaccine for strangles

["Liz Carpenter" <cvsec@south-01.novell.leeds.ac.uk>]

katswig@deltanet.com writes:

<< Maybe I am going to show my ignorance here, but what is wrong with
just letting a horse GET strangles???>>

I know Heidi has already given an answer, but I thought I could maybe 
add something from here in the UK.

As a rule we do not vaccinate for strangles, and vaccination for 
strangles is not a requirement for participating in a ride (flu is 
the only one which is, and then only if a ride starts from a 
racecourse). I am following the vaccination posts with interest as I 
would welcome a safe way of preventing our horses from getting 
strangles at all.

I have always been told that in a horse with strangles there is a 
risk of 'bastard strangles' (as it is called over here) developing 
which can be fatal as abcessing occurs internally. We had a mare who 
was touch and go with strangles and the vet began to suspect that the 
infection had migrated internally, but happily he was wrong and she 
was just slow to recover. I would always do my utmost to prevent the 
spreading of strangles to uninfected horses as I could not bear the 
risk of it turning into 'bastard strangles'.....


Liz and Basil The Nag
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Dr E Carpenter
Institute for Cardiovascular Research
The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
+ 44 (0113) 2334169/2334803 (voice/fax)
+ 44 (0498) 783129 (mobile)
e.carpenter@leeds.ac.uk
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