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  Discussion on Anaplasmosis
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New Member:
hadley

Posted on Wednesday, Mar 25, 2009 - 11:48 pm:

This is the 3rd time my 3 year old Warmblood gelding has had a high fever. To be as brief as possible... Case #1 was in Feb. 2008 and it was in the 103 degree range. I was told by my vet to put him on low doses of banamine and wean him off. At this time, no blood work was done. The fever went away in a few days and he was back to normal.

Case #2 was 3 months later in May 2008 and this time temp. was 105. He was tested for lyme disease and had a negative western blot but an ELISA of 78. My vet suspected anaplasmosis and put him on Doxycycline for over a month (26 tabs 2 x a day). He is a large horse. Within hours of treatment, his temp. DrOpped to normal and stayed normal without the use of banamine. I thought he recovered fine.

Case #3. Now it is March 2009. We are not overloaded with ticks here in central PA (or at least on my property). I found about 6 or 7 on my group of 7 horses throughout all of last year. But they do of course exist. I have not found any ticks on this particular horse during this incident. He is body clipped because he was in training and he is thoroughly groomed everyday. His fevers were upper 105's and would DrOp to 101 or 102 with quite a lot of banamine. He didn't want to eat this time whereas the other times he did. He was very lethargic and depressed. My vet came and took more blood.

Again, a negative lyme test and a result of 0 for ELISA. Within 6 hours of starting Doxycycline, temp. was normal and stayed there without banamine. My vet is now sending an anaplasmosis test out to confirm his diagnosis, but that hasn't come back yet. Within 2 days of antibiotics, he appeared to have much more energy. And he started to eat and drink better by the 3rd day.

Each time this occurs, it seems to be the same symptoms but worse than the time before. My vet said his blood work from this time was notably worse than last time. Also new is that 1 week into the antibiotic, he developed swelling around his throatlatch area which goes is pronounced in the evenings but by morning, nearly vanishes. He also has a couple large hives on the flat of his neck. He never had this reaction when he was on it before so I'm not sure what to make of that.????

I know it is thought that anaplasmosis is not chronic but why are his symptoms worse every time? If he had this disease before and was then exposed a 2nd time, wouldn't that give him a little better immunity? Is there anything I can do better to help him? Are pro-biotics okay to add daily since he is on so much Doxy.? Do you think that this disease would have subsided on its own within 9 or so days of onset?... because he seemed to me to be very sick. If it is anaplasmosis, would that mean that he had this 3 different times and that even though he wasn't treated with Doxy. the first time, he may have gotten over it on his own? And that now he has been bitten 3 different times by 3 different ticks carrying this disease? Is that possible? Or very likely? I recently read that the lyme test is only to test for the Borrelia burgdorferi spirochete and that there are supposedly a hundred other species of Borrelia species that we don't know how to test for because they are fastidious. Is it possible it can be something else?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Mar 26, 2009 - 10:08 am:

Welcome Jessica,
So that this post shows up in the search engines correctly let me note that Anaplasmosis is no longer correct and the organism has been renamed Ehrlichia equi and the disease called Equine Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis.

Yes this could be something else, in fact if is likely something else. It is even likely that this is several other things. The symptoms you list are not specific at all for anaplasmosis (or any infectious disease for that matter) and you are missing some important symptoms of anaplasmosis. Horses develop a strong long lasting (at least 2 years) following infection. As to your other questions about Ehrlichiosis, they are handled pretty well in the article. Particularly understand the diagnostic criteria for this disease a one time blood sample is not diagnostic. With this understanding, put down all of the questions that assume you are dealing with recurrent anaplasmosis in your horse.

3 episodes of fever in a 3 year old is not that odd, particularly if he is in contact with other horses that travel. He is like the kid that first goes to day care he is exposed to all types of infections that he has yet to develop an immunity to and most of these that have vaccines the protection is not complete.

I think your main worry is if this is going to continue and even worsen. And while i cannot tell if he is the kid that always gets the bug or not, I assure you as he ages this problem will get less often and less severe as his immune system begins to recognize the common infections he is exposed to.

For more ideas on fever from unknown cause check out Diseases of Horses » Fever of Unknown Origin. You should also review Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Joint, Bone, Ligament Diseases » Lyme Disease, Borreliosis, in Horses. I think your information indicates some misunderstanding about Lyme disease in horses.

If I have missed something important and it is not in the articles ask me here.
DrO
New Member:
hadley

Posted on Thursday, Mar 26, 2009 - 11:02 am:

Thank you Dr. O for your response. I owned his full brother and he had a strange fever situation crop up at three years old as well. He was treated with IV oxytetracycline and recovered fine. I know fevers can show up and then disappear sometimes. Do you think I may be dealing with the recurrence of the same issue, or do you think they are entirely different incidences? If this is not a tick-borne or other infectious disease, would it respond so well to Doxy.?
New Member:
hadley

Posted on Thursday, Mar 26, 2009 - 11:19 am:

Oh yeah... I forgot. The sentence in the 2nd paragraph where you say "horses develop a strong long lasting (at least 2 years) following infection"... are you talking about immunity there? I wasn't quite sure.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Mar 27, 2009 - 8:44 am:

Yes, there should be "immunity" inserted in there.
DrO
Member:
ceceb

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 25, 2009 - 11:45 pm:

DrO, Thanks for all of your thoughts. We are still trying to figure out what is wrong with Maggie. (fever for 18 days). Maybe it is a tick bite, but we have found none on her.
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