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  Discussion on Ringworm - Baffled how this horse got it
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Member:
sachet

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 - 4:58 pm:

About one month ago, my horse developed a rash in the saddle area. Because he was recently clipped, I initially thought that was the cause of a minor irritation.

As time passed, this dermatitis spread and became itchy. I read all the skin related articles here and on the web and I suspected Dermatophilus C. and treated with Nolvasan even though puritus is not usually associated with that condition.

I took my horse to a clinic vet two weeks ago. He took some skin samples to send off to a lab. He also arranged for an appointment with a veterinary dermatologist that I will meet with this Friday (12/14/12).

Today the clinic vet called me and told me the lab test showed Ringworm. I asked if he felt confident that this was correct, and he said 'yes'. I asked if there was any Dermatophilis, and was told 'no'.

I am pretty shocked about this finding for several reasons. My horse lives alone here on my 40 acre farm. There have been other horses here, but not for 2 years and none of them were ever ill with any skin diseases. My horse has not been off the farm for two years except to go to the clinic two weeks ago. I always use a clean saddle pad and my groom tools have never been used on any other horse.

Also, the physical appears of this dermatitis does not have the characteristics of Ringworm as written in the article on this site. There is no hair loss, except for an area on the rump where my horse has scratched himself raw. There is no dermatitis on the face, chest or neck, which the article says is most common. The dermatitis is on the back, sides, and belly.

I clipped the horse's legs last night so I could check out the condition and there is dermatitis there as well. Those look to me like the common 'scratches', but skin samples were not taken from that area so perhaps I have multiple conditions going on at once.

I realize from reading the article here, that this fungus lives in the environment forever, but I've been living on this farm for 23 years and never had a horse get infected. Why and how now??
Member:
cathy33

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 - 5:42 pm:

Hi,
It does seem a bit puzzling. Could someone have borrowed your clippers before you used them? I imagine ringworm could easily be spread that way.

Best of luck in solving the problem and finding the appropriate treatment
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Dec 15, 2012 - 6:35 pm:

Hello Sachet,
If we assume a horse with a new ringworm infection has not contacted anything that might have be carrying the fungus then the cause of the infection is most likely something that made the horse more sensitive to the fungus or possibly a change in the immune status. Perhaps irritation with the clippers if there is a relation between the two.
DrO
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Saturday, Dec 15, 2012 - 9:04 pm:

A couple of years ago I bought a farm where llamas had previously had ringworm.

One of my horses has contracted this problem two autumns in a row and the veterinarian said that climactically, it is common that time of year.

Out of all of my horses, none of them contract the problem except for my one horse who has equine metabolic synDrOme, hence a less than good immune system.
Member:
sachet

Posted on Saturday, Dec 15, 2012 - 11:21 pm:

Thank you all for your replies.

I still do not have a confirmed diagnosis.
Apparently the Dermatophyte Test Media (DTM) was initially done in-house at the local clinic. Fungal culture grew Candida yeast and suspected Trichophyton. It seems they didn't allow the fungus to grow long enough to determine type.

I met with a veterinary dermatologist on 12/14 at the same clinic where she comes routinely for special cases. She is a small animal vet, but also services equine dermatology cases. My horse does not present as having Ringworm. I knew that, which is why I was so surprised at the initial diagnosis.

There are no round spots, hair is not falling out or weakened ( except where he has rubbed or where I picked scabs thinking earlier he had rain rot). Bacterial infection has been ruled out; at least that is what I was told when I inquired.

I was given my treatment options and her choice I think was to do a biopsy, but I declined that. She took more hair/scurf samples and she will send it out to an independent lab to determine if it is ringworm and what type.

In the meantime, she prescribed Cetirizine to help relieve the serious itching and Fluconazole for the suspected Ringworm. Also prescribed will be a Lime Sulfur Dip, but they have to order that for me so I haven't started it yet. I am to give this medication for one month. The dermatologist will check with me in two weeks for a status report on how the horse is doing.

The Differential Diagnosis would be AutoImmune Disease. I've read the articles on this site about that, and so far I don't see any symptoms that relate. My situation doesn't seem to be worsening, but it is also not improving. It's been one month since I first noticed the skin problem starting.

To complicate matters, I had a CBC run and the muscle and liver enzymes were high (AST, CK, ALP). I have no clue how/if this relates to the skin problem. According to articles on this site, high resting AST coupled with high CK is muscle damage and possibly EPSM or a Liver problem. Again, this was a huge shock to me and I didn't have a chance to discuss the results with the vet before leaving the clinic.

I'll try to post some photos tomorrow when I upload off my camera.
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