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Discussion on Is it really strangles?
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New Member:
dgreen
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Posted on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 - 11:22 pm:
my horse has recently been diagnosed with strangles but some things just aren't adding up! i will try to be as brief as possible with the sequence of events.....just over 2 weeks ago i purchased my horse. i had his pre-purchase exam done on wednesday and he was completely healthy by any general standard used for a pre-purchase exam. i transported him home the following day to a boarding barn where he seemed to adjust easily. the following morning my trainer heard a mild dry cough and noticed that the hay looked a bit dusty and so she wet it. he coughed a couple more times that day and no more. i rode him friday thru sunday and he was absolutely fine. monday morning i had a vet come to give him his fall shots. he had a tiny clear drip in his nose so she took his temp to make sure he was ok. his fever was just over 101 so the vet wanted to hold off on the shots and she took some blood to make sure that it was viral and not bacterial. she called that afternoon to say that the white count was elevated (11?) and so she wanted to put him on antibiotics. by that time monday afternoon, his temp had shot up over 104 and he was acting depressed and lethargic and his snot had turned yellow. she came to the barn that evening and started him on an antibiotic once a day injection (sorry, i can't remember the name, just the dose of 80 ml) and took a swab from his runny nose. i gave him 2 grams of bute that evening for the fever. tues morning he seemed to feel fine. still had the runny nose but no fever. he received 3 more days of the antibiotic (no more bute) and then on friday the vet called and said that the culture tested positive for strangles. she told me to discontinue the antibiotics and let it run it's course. i should also note that from the first day that he had a runny nose, he has been isolated in his stall and everyone in the barn has been careful to stay away. i have a bleach bath outside of his stall to step in, antibacterial hand rub, separate muck bucket and pitchfork, etc. 5 days after discontinuing antibiotic, he spiked a fever in the 103 range and was put on bute by my trainer for a few days as i was out of town. the fever was totally controlled by the bute and he hasn't had a fever since. his only symptom is an intermittent runny nose, still yellowish.
it has been 13 days since he has been isolated (17 since he came to the farm). he is in a stall outside of the barn now (all alone and sad!) and is being turned out for a few hours in a paddock far from any other horses. just today, 3 horses came down with yellow runny noses. none of these horses had contact with mine and ironically, none of the horses that did have direct contact with my horse in the first couple of days, have had any symptoms. no fevers on any horses in the barn (20 total) or any other symptoms. all of the horses in my barn have been vaccinated for strangles, including my horse who was vaccinated 8 months ago. paranoia is running rampant in the barn. we have been put on a farm quarantine by my vet for 3 months. my trainer is wanting to have all of the horses tested in the barn to figure out who is or could get sick.
oh and no illness of any kind at the barn that my horse came from. although people at my barn are being nice to me, i feel like such a leper!!! and all i can think is that my horse seems fine but for a runny nose. and for all of the reading that i have been doing about strangles, it just doesn't seem to add up! what should i do???
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 - 8:02 am:
Hello Dawson,
You and your fellow barn members need to quit panicking as a start. These are horses, not hot house flowers, and it is to be expected that at times they are going to get sick and the serious complication rate to Strangles is low, all your horses are going to get well.
Concerning the diagnosis and treatment of Strangles we cover all that in great detail in the article you should read it very carefully to see which parts apply to you and the other horses in the barn and consider implementing them. Remember that unlike what your veterinarian seems to feel Strangles is very treatable when caught early.
DrO
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Member:
pattyb
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Posted on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 - 10:13 am:
Good morning.
Dawson, I would like to commend you on your concern when it came to trying not to infect everyone else in the barn. A stables I once boarded at had a vet release a horse from 2 weeks of quarantine when the owner asked specifically about a lump under his cheek. He pretty much blew off the owner, said it was probably a snake bite, and the horse(s) were released to a field that had 45 pasture boards. One week later, in spite of the owner's concern, strangles broke loose in the herd, starting with mr. lump. In the end, all but 8 of the horses came down with strangles, over a period of 3 months. It was a real mess and sadly, the concerned owner bore the brunt of it for quite some time. AND TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE...several of the pasture boards also had a horse up in the barn/poddock area and it killed me to watch these people go down the hill to take care of their sick horse(s), then come up to the barn to take care of the one in the barn....some even brought with them from quarantine the same pitchfork! I was floored and went straight to the attending veterinarian and asked him to please explain the transfer of viruses to them. (It was my legitimate concern but not my place.) He did so immediately and thankfully, none of the barn horses contracted strangles.
At the time, we didn't have an approved strangles vaccine on the market. There was one out but the "cure" was at times worse than the disease. When all was said and done, the question arose "Why did most get it, but 8 did not?" The "offenders" had come in to Tennessee from Alabama and the best guess was that the 8 had at some time been exposed to that particular strain...or they were just simply able to fight it off.
I really feel for you Dawson. I well remember some of the other boarders getting ugly with the owner but, the owner did what an owner should do....she asked the vet about the lump. Maybe because he was fresh out of vet school it slipped by him but had I known about it beforehand, I would have found a tactful way to question his diagnoses and insert my concerns at the same time...anything to get him back to his books.
Good luck and please post updates.
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Member:
rtrotter
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Posted on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 - 1:04 pm:
I have a question concerning the vaccine. Is it possible for a horse that has been vaccinated for strangles to culture positive for the disease because of the vaccine?
Rachelle
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Dec 2, 2008 - 7:03 am:
Hello Rachelle,
Yes, the live intranasal vaccine can allow for a positive culture though I would be surprised if this were the case 7 months later.
The clinical picture is consistent with Strangles in a vaccinated horse. But I should say that unless the lab deals specifically with veterinary pathogens I have little faith in most lab's ability to differentiate Strangles from other similar strep pathogens.
DrO
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