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  Discussion on Herpes and lysine linked to head shaking?
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 25, 2002 - 3:39 pm:

I was recently discussing my mare's head shaking with a visiting trainer from out of town. She said that new evidence links head shaking to the herpes virus. The theory is that the herpes virus makes the horse's nasal passages much more irritable. She said that an annual spring rhino vaccine can exacerbate the problem because the vaccine is herpes-based.

She also said that she has heard of success in eliminating head-shaking by supplementing with lysine. No details at all on that one -- why it helps, dosage, etc.

I am trying to figure out whether there is any basis at all for these two theories. If anyone can shed any light, I would be grateful. I am mostly asking out of curiosity, because my mare's head-shaking is largely controlled by using a muzzle net.

Thanks!

Lisa

Posted on Friday, Apr 26, 2002 - 5:31 am:

I have to say it sounds more like an excuse to not vaccinate and I can think of better reasons than this to not vaccinate.

I don't know of any basis for these conjectures Lisa, and if there is some work to show this I would be interested in it. There is no doubt that head shaking is caused by a range of problems but that the majority are related to the amount of light present and there are effective treatments for these horses. See the article for more.
DrO

Posted on Friday, Apr 26, 2002 - 3:25 pm:

Thanks, Dr. O. I did read the article before posting. I wouldn't have posted if I hadn't! I suspected that there was no scientific basis for this, but I figured you would know. If I do run across any concrete info I will post again.

Lisa

Posted on Friday, Apr 26, 2002 - 10:19 pm:

In PEOPLE, lysine is taken for the relief and prevention of the herpes virus. Quoting from "Our Bodies, Ourselves," "Lysine seems to work by counteracting the effects of argenine (a substance found in foods such as nuts, chocolate, and cola), which may stimulate herpes." I can't imagine how this would relate to head-shaking in horses, but this is the connection between lysine and herpes.

Nancy

Posted on Saturday, Apr 27, 2002 - 9:02 am:

Nancy, I went to look for evidence of lysine and herpes and did find support for this. A small number of studies suggest it lessened the severity of HSV reoccurence in infected individuals.

However one project studying this effect found that while the skin lesions in topical lysine treated guinea pigs was reduced the treated guinea pigs had the virus isolated from the spinal nerves. The untreated controls did not have this complication. Long term effects and possible complications are probably not well defined with this use in humans for HSV yet.
DrO
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