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I am sorry to hear of your horses dillema Clauee. We have been horse camping in wilderness areas without regular internet access so apologize for the slow response. This is now 4 days later let me ask how is your horse doing and what is the current working diagnosis or set of rule outs. The fever alone is not much of a problem but the founder needs to be aggressively addressed as described in our article on Overview of Founder. I will be watching for your response today and hope to hear your horse is doing better.
DrO -
Hi Dr.O
It was a horrible time but the outcome is not so bad. The fever went on for two weeks altogether. The vet keeps his diagnosis of a “viral cause of unknown origin”. I had two other vet advices who think she had Potomac horse fever. The only symptom of PHF she didn’t have is diarrhea (apparently diarrhea is present in less than 60% cases anyway?). I had her tested for coronavirus since there was a case in a different barn not too far, but it came back negative. She is moving much better now on her feet despite the severe founder. I will have X rays taken next week to evaluate rotation. She regained her normal lifestyle within the herd and has good energy and appetite. Obviously her disease was not contagious. -
Great to hear your horse is doing better. Rereading your initial post you say the testing ruled out…. Some tests early in the disease do not have good sensitivity. To further complicate the diagnosis of PHF recently it has been discovered that there are several different species causing disease and the current gold standard test PCR does not identify all the species. So discuss this with your veterinarian and see if it is appropriate to further try and id the cause. I do think the founder raises the likelihood of PHF.
DrO -
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The PHF article outlines several serological tests available and discusses their strengths and weaknesses: https://horseadvice.com/horse-equine/diseases/colic-diarrhea-gi-tract/diarrhea-in-horses/potomac-horse-fever/
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