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  Discussion on Gelding with what the vet called "Lepto"
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Posted on Sunday, Oct 31, 1999 - 6:05 pm:

Does anyone have any experience with this? W thought that he had injured the eye when we first noticed the discharge and the fact the eye was closed. Took him to the vet, she diagnosed "lepto", ordered large doses of penecillin, and a creme to be put in the eye twice daily. We kept him stalled in almost darkness. He is better, the vet checked yesterday, has been about four weeks. Bit still not completely cleared up. She says he may still lose his sight in that eye. Are we treating this right? Will it come back? We have heard it may, vet says it might. We love this horse, he is 6 years old, and our daughter trail rides on him. Vet says to go ahead and ride, but be carefull approaching that side, our daughter is a little unsure that is safe on trails. Any help and thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks

Posted on Monday, Nov 1, 1999 - 8:22 am:

Hello Teresa,
We have extensive information on Leptospirosis and its association with eye disease. Read the article on recurrent uveitis in the Eye Disease section, paying a lot of attention to the scientific reports. Once you have digested this information come back here with your unanswered questions. I do have one, what makes your vet sure it is Lepto, I know of no pathognomonic (see below) signs for Lepto infection of the eye.
DrO

pathognomonic
path-og-n-mon-ik
Characteristic or indicative of a disease; denoting especially one or more typical symptoms, findings, or pattern of abnormalities specific for a given disease and not found in any other condition.

Posted on Monday, Nov 1, 1999 - 8:44 am:

Terresa,
We have an older mare who lost sight in one eye due to uveitis. Two other horses on the same property also lost sight, one in one eye, the other in both eyes. Our vet put the whole farm on Leptospirosis vaccine. There have been no other horses with that problem since. Don't know if the uveitis was caused by the Lepto in our mare, or if the other two were unrelated. Our mare lost sight gradually and my daughter continued to ride her and the horse learned to rely on my daughter for sight on her bad side. When she had flare-ups we fashioned a patch (in the form of racing blinkers with the bad eye completely blacked out) so she could still go out and function normally. They learned team penning after she went blind in that eye. Your daughter will have to be extra careful and just remember that she has to be the horse's eye for her. They seem to adapt pretty well. As for treatment, I don't remember ever using penicillin, but no one thought of Lepto until it was discovered that two other horses had a problem. She was treated with an assortment of antibiotic ointments, atropine, aspirin (sometimes bute) and when there was no injury (scrapes) then steroid ointment.
Kathleen

Posted on Monday, Nov 1, 1999 - 8:46 am:

Thank you .I have printed a copy of the article you suggested so I can read it throughly. When we carried the horse to the vet the first time she put something in his eye, forgot what she called it, that would make an injury or tear show up. She said there was non. She said that it was behind the eye, not in the eye itself(meaning coreana, iris etc,) His eye was cloudly, but is mostly clear now. I am going to read the article and then will come back with any questions. Thanks.

Terresa

Posted on Monday, Nov 1, 1999 - 10:07 pm:

Hello everyone. I am still studing on the article, and comparing with what I know. I am not sure that I understand all the scientific info. I think I need a medicial dicitionary!! But it appears that he may have the Recurrent Uveitis, but I am not sure where the Lepto comes in. Also the Vet said nothing about vaccinating the other horses(12). I also saw conflicting opinions about the advisability of that. I am concerned about the mares that are in the same pasture, some are bred, some open. I have not given him anything for pain, but notice that if I even rub his nose he closes his eye. My horses are generly healthy and I am at a loss, but am trying to find out all I can. We have no equine specialist in our area, but our local Vet usually does a good job and is through. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Terresa

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 2, 1999 - 11:16 am:

Hello Teresa,
We have a medical dictionary in the reference section.

Recurrent uveitis is an autoimmune disorder: the horse's immune system begins to attack the eye. RU horses appear to have a higher than average incidence of antibodies to Lepto. We know one of the predilection sites for Lepto is the eye.

Theory is the infection with the Lepto turns on the immune system that then begins to attack the eye. Not all horses exposed to Lepto develop RU and not all horses with RU have had Lepto so other mechanisims are at work also.

Vaccinating horses with the Lepto vaccine is not recommended by me with the possible exception of Lepto abortions. If the problem is autoimmune the vaccine may worsen the uveitis by stimulating the immune system.
DrO
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