| HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Swellings / Localized Infection / Abscesses » Pigeon Fever, Dryland Strangles, & Distemper » |
| Discussion on Pigeon Fever Strikes Back (gross photos) | |
| Author | Message |
| Member: ekaufman |
Posted on Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 - 1:18 pm: Hello,I wanted to share an interesting Pigeon Fever story, mostly as background for anyone else dealing with it. Brief history-- we had a big year for PF in Colorado last year, and I had 2 cases on my property (out of 23 horses in care). The second case was minor-- one small chest abscess that resolved fast with no complications. The first case was in a middle-aged broodmare who was nursing a very large colt. She blew multiple large abscesses in sequence-- chest, 4 on the ventral midline, and on her neck-- all of which required a lot of care, and resolved very slowly. We did not put her on antibiotics-- CSU recommended against it, and the mare seemed to be holding her own. I turned her out on pasture in September, and she seemed to recover through the winter. About 6 weeks ago I noticed she was losing condition rapidly. It's been a cold winter, and I increased her feed on the assumption that she was under-fed. A month ago she began to degenerate, dumping condition, acting depressed and showing signs of abdominal pain (not colic). I called the vet. By the time the vet arrived, my mare had developed odd ridges of hard swelling along her ribs, a layer of pitting edema under the skin around her entire mid-section, and a huge pad of ventral edema from her udder forward to her girth area. Her vitals were normal, though her respiration was elevated (presumably from pain). Her bloodwork was normal except for elevated fibrinogin and seg. neutrophils. She looked like this:  Because of her history, we suspected a resurgence of Pigeon Fever. We submitted a PF titer to UC Davis, and called the vet who developed the test to determine whether the mare's case in the fall would skew the results. UC Davis told us a low titer (1:50 or so) would rule out a current case; a medium titer (1:100 or so) would be confusing, and a high titer (1:256 or higher) would confirm current infection. They processed the test lightening fast, and we got a titer of 1:2048. Apparently the mare has been incubating the bacteria all winter. We put her on SMZs and Rifampin, and placed her in a quarantine stall (her condition was declining rapidly, though she continued to maintain normal vitals and to eat well). After 2 weeks of increasing pain and depression, the weird ridges resolved into a familiar PF abscess form, like this:  So we went ahead and lanced the abscess, draining just under 3 gallons of putrefaction, like this:  The mare now looks significantly better, with much less pain and better mobility. Davis has recommended a minimum of one month on SMZs and Rifampin-- they suspect internal abscesses along with the one we have drained. I'm not certain why. We have her isolated and are bleaching EVERYTHING every time. It's a huge pain, especially the disposal of her stall waste. Prior to this, no one locally had seen a case that recurred so long after apparent recovery. Fortunately it has been a very cold winter, with no flies at all. No other horse has shown any sign of the illness since the one other case in August. Nasty! |
| Member: leslie1 |
|
| Member: canter |
|
| Member: juliem |
|
| Member: ajudson1 |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: ekaufman |
|
| Member: kpaint |
|
| Member: vickiann |
|
| Member: ekaufman |
Posted on Thursday, Mar 25, 2010 - 8:48 pm: Here is a photo from this morning, 48 hours after lancing that abscess. The large plaque of ventral edema has reduced significantly. The two suspicious areas of hard swelling over her ribs and along her flank are somewhat softer (though still suspiciously abscess-like, to me). The open abscess is draining well, and the mare is bright, hungry, and opinionated. Not dead yet! |
| Member: lilo |
|
| Member: mrose |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: ekaufman |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 14, 2010 - 8:44 pm: Hello,Thought I'd post a status on my mare. Her overall condition has improved a lot-- she's gaining weight and attitude, with normal vitals and significantly reduced pain. I would be surprised at this point to lose her in this illness. The lanced abscess continues to drain (we cultured it, but didn't grow anything, whether because of the sample or the antibiotics I don't know.). The other presumed external abscess has shrunk quite a bit, but remains palpable and somewhat painful under the skin. It shows no signs of rupturing, and doesn't seem a good candidate for lancing. Hopefully the abscesses will resolve in the near future-- we aren't certain whether to interfere with them. No new blood work, but we plan to check fibrinogen next week to see whether she continues to have active infection. Here is the mare:  and the draining abscess: 
|
| Member: ajudson1 |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 14, 2010 - 9:04 pm: Glad to hear she's doing better.
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| Member: ekaufman |
|
| Member: paul303 |
|
| Member: lilo |
|
| Member: vickiann |
|
| Member: ekaufman |
Posted on Sunday, May 9, 2010 - 11:38 am: Hello all,In honor of Mother's Day, here's my apparently healthy mother of 9, back on pasture, enjoying one of our few (so far) lovely spring days. You are looking at her abscess side-- she looks to be healing well. 
|
| Member: mrose |
Posted on Sunday, May 9, 2010 - 12:01 pm: She look great! I'm so glad she's healing. Any mother of nine deserves a good spring day! I hope you have one also.
|
| Member: lilo |
|
| Moderator: DrO |
|
| New Member: ngwintx |
|
