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  Discussion on Equine Herpes Virus mistaken for PSSM and Surpass
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Member:
Swancott

Posted on Friday, Jul 2, 2004 - 3:19 am:

DrO, I posted a subject under the "Tying up" section regarding an Appaloosa colt that was in the hospital with suspected PSSM. He also supposedly had nephrosplenic entrapment, but there was some doubt about that diagnosis on the part of the vet on the case. We did a muscle biopsy, sent it to Dr. Valberg at the Univ of MN, and it came back as very mild PSSM. However, after speaking with Dr. Valberg extensively, she advised me not to geld this colt until she has a genetic test for inherited PSSM to see if he is a carrier and, therefore, should not be bred. She said he was so borderline that it could be an anomolie and maybe he does not have a gene, especially since she now thinks the gene for inherited PSSM is dominant. I have followed her advice, but after reading everything I could get my hands on about PSSM, I had a nagging feeling this colt does not have it or at least it is not what caused his symptoms. He never "tied-up" in the hind end; during his episodes he would have difficulty breathing which made them very scarey, but once he went down, he always seemed to fall asleep before recovering and getting up like nothing happened. Also, I was regularly exercising him in the round pen and many times he would get quite rambuncious; however, he has never had an attack at home -- his attacks (there were four) all occurred when he was stressed and in strange surroundings, and even then it took 24 hours or more for him to have an attack. He has been home from the hospital for a month now and I have not seen him even hint at typing up, even after he runs around his pasture like a maniac. I watch him constantly and I even lunged him to see if he would get stiff and he was perfectly normal. Anyway, where all this is going... I have three other horses on the premises. During the colt's hospital stay, my 15 yr.TB mare started coughing and got a runny nose. The cough got pretty constant, but I never called the vet 'cause I was so stretched to the limit with the colt. I gave her cough medicine which helped a little, and after about three or four weeks of coughing it went away. I thought it was allergies or an irritant in the hay since I've only had her for a year. She also had itchy eyes and was rubbing them a lot during that time. Her pair bond is a little 16 yr. quarter horse gelding I've had since he was 6 yrs. and he coughed for about a week and also got a runny nose. I thought it was allergies since he's always had a sensitivity to weeds, etc. But now my 15 yr. Appy gelding (different horse than the colt) who I bred and raised and know like the back of my hand has come down with a horrible infection which my vet and I thought was a bad reaction to the new NSAID topical, Surpass. He has hock arthritis and also has a sensitive tummy so I wanted to try the Surpass on his sore hock which had been really bothering him on his left side. This was unusual (and started happening about two or three weeks ago when the colt came home from the hospital) because the left side has been somewhat fused and hasn't bothered him in a long time. The lameness also came on very suddenly after he had been sound for several months. So I used the Surpass for three days and his lameness started getting worse. Then his entire left leg from the hip down started breaking out in lesions and oozing serum. About a day after the break out, he began lifting that leg in an exaggerated manner and would almost fall down in the process. At first it was sporadic but as of this morning he was doing it whenever he would try to move his hindquarters. He nearly fell several times, but so far he's managed to stay up. My vet was out yesterday and we both thought it might be a bad reaction to the Surpass; however, she cannot confirm these symptoms as know side effects, although the drug is very new. So she gave him a steroid shot and antibiotics since he also had a fever of almost 104. She also gave him a diuretic and told me to let her know if how he does. This morning he went off his feed for awhile (very unusual for this horse) and started staggering around his stall. I took his temperature and it was almost 102. Now here I am with this horse who has never, I mean NEVER been sick with even the sniffles, and he suddenly has a terrible rash which has also shown up on the right hind leg, staggering around his stall barely able to walk without jerking his left hind straight up in the air and nearly falling over in the process. I'm thinking what is going on here? My horses have never been sick and I vaccinated them religously. I'm also a complete clean freak and my barn is cleaner than most people's houses, including the horse stalls. I also keep my pastures clean and I call the vet if any one of them looks at me cross-eyed. Why are best two show horses falling apart before my eyes? One diagnosed with PSSM and the other: Who knows?
Then I remembered when my mother had Shingles and the lesions broke out on her face, ears, and neck and they looked just like the ones on my horse. She also had facial paralysis and a fever and was very sick for about a month and half. She was also misdiagnosed because it seemed to come out of the blue. I read your article on Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) in Horses and am convinced as of this evening that this is what my small herd has been suffering from, including the colt diagnosed with PSSM. My colt's dam and her half sister are broodmares in a major breeding operation and none of the other siblings have shown any signs of PSSM, nor has his dam or her half sister or their dam, and it is their dam that has the "suspect" pedigree for PSSM inhertance. There is none of that anywhere else in his pedigree. This makes me even more convinced that my horses have the neurological form of EHV-1. I don't know how or why they've gotten it now, but your article tells the story of my situation to a T. Does this sound plausible to you? I've left a message with my vet who is going out of town this weekend (July 4th) and thank goodness my gelding is feeling a bit better as of late this evening -- he is steadier on his feet and seems less agitated and is also eating well. This has been really difficult for me to see this happening to each horse, and knowing their symptoms have to be related, but the vets can only treat each case they see as individual, so it's frustrating. My regular vet also has serious doubts about the PSSM diagnosis and she has also spoken to Dr. Valberg.
DrO, am I going crazy or could EHV-1 be causing all this turmoil?
Thanks for reading all of this, but someone has to see the big picture here or I'll never know what's going on and I could end up needlessly gelding an outstanding stallion and losing a cherished gelding... Vanessa
Member:
Cara2

Posted on Friday, Jul 2, 2004 - 7:30 am:

Hi Vanessa,

I would agree that your colt sounds like he is having neurological problems. I would certainly pursue this a bit. Incidentally my mare has epilepsy and when she has a seizure she sounds as though she can hardly breathe. Think how many epileptic animals and people collapse, sleep it off and then seem pretty well normal when they wake up? I think I would ask your vet to repeat the neuro tests.

Good luck, I hope it all comes right for you.
Member:
Swancott

Posted on Friday, Jul 2, 2004 - 3:33 pm:

Thanks, Helen. I appreciate the good tidings. If my colt were the only one affected by all of this, I would think it was a problem with him, which I thought was the case until my gelding came down with these awful neurologic symptoms with the bad skin lesions. After reading DrO's article on EHM, my vet and I are leaning heavily toward the EHM diagnosis. It's such a long story, but I keep track of details when it comes to my horses and I don't think anyone could convince me now that my colt has chronic, heritable PSSM. I forgot to mention in my long-winded discussion that while my gelding is staggering around and suffering bad lesions on his hindquarters, the colt has a snotty nose and is coughing his brains out from time to time. Otherwise he doesn't have a temperature and he is eating, playing, sleeping, peeing and pooping just fine. These all seem to be classic EHM symptoms which can play out in a small herd like mine, although we'll probably never know where it came from to begin with. Vanessa

Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 3, 2004 - 8:08 am:

Vanessa, I am not convinced but cannot say it is not possible. Equine Herpes Virus 1 or 4 does not have a skin rash symptom associated with it that I have ever seen or read.

You have gone through a bout of infectious upper respiratory disease, which is very common, but it is not clear that your horses are suffering from the neurological form of EHV1. It seems pretty straight forward that the medication burned your horses leg and if you did not apply it to the right must have come into contact with it from the left. Unless it is very clear that the stumbling this morning is not from this, I would strongly suspect it is do to 2 very painful legs and would address therapy at relieving this problem. Which would include, making sure the medication has been thoroughy washed off, cold hosing, soothing emolients, oral NSAIDs, and if infectious disease is ruled our corticosteroids.

Some of the new information you provide on the old problem does sound a bit like narcolepsy a form of seizures. See it under the neurological diseases.
DrO

Member:
Swancott

Posted on Monday, Jul 5, 2004 - 6:13 pm:

Thanks, DrO. I guess I'm grasping at straws because I've never had so many problems in all the years I've owned horses. The TB mare and QH gelding are doing fine and seem perfectly healthy now. However, it's pretty strange that my two Appaloosas are both ill out of the blue and there is no definitive diagnosis. The Surpass people are vehemently denying that an oozing rash is symptomatic of a bad reaction, but did tell my vet that we should wash his legs thoroughly, which I did shortly after the rash appeared. My gelding is much better as of today, but the rash is still oozing serum in three or four spots on his left hip, hocks and cannons on both sides. He is still on antibiotics and bute which is keeping him comfortable and his fever is down. The stud colt is still coughing and has a snotty nose, but is running and playing like a normal colt. This sounds crazy, but I almost wish he would have a PSSM attack at home so I would know what I'm dealing with but so far he's fine and he's really exercising a lot. I had already read the article on narcolepsy, but didn't think at the time it matched his symptoms, but I'll read it again to double check. I appreciate your input. I had wondered about the rash part in relation to EHV-1 and -4 and you answered my question. When my vet gets back, I'll ask her what my options are for doing more research to find out what's bothering my gelding since he has the worst symptoms of the four... at least for this week!! Vanessa
Member:
Swancott

Posted on Friday, Aug 6, 2004 - 3:34 am:

Update: DrO, The Surpass caused my gelding's rash and fever and ataxia (probably from very painful skin). My vet has reported it to the company that makes it. He got over the symptoms fairly quickly and I put him back on oral bute and MSM for his arthritis. The colt still has a bit of a runny nose but is fine otherwise. The other two are also doing well and haven't had anymore symptoms. I guess it was a rash of bad luck... Also, I won't be using Surpass in my barn again!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 6, 2004 - 9:37 am:

Thanks for the update, Vanessa.
DrO
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