CountryLady
luvmyponies
Strangles EDUCATION
EVERY ONE VACCINATE YOUR HORSES ACCORDINGLY
AND TAKE THE PROPER PRECAUTIONS!
Vaccinate all you equidae
(i.e. asses, donkeys, mules, miniature horses, and zebras if you got'em)
*********************************************************
Strangles is an infectious, transmissible, world-wide disease of horses, donkeys and mules. It continues to rank among the three most significant respiratory diseases of horses. Its widespread distribution is favored by its highly contagious mode of spread and a mobile horse population.
Strangles is highly contagious, with transmission occurring by the oral and nasal routes. Communal drinking sources, population density, and mobility are important risk factors. S. equi may survive for several weeks in water troughs, but dies quickly in soil and on pasture. It will remain viable in frozen discharges; otherwise survival requires moisture and protection from sunlight.
Treatment and control: There is considerable debate about the antibiotic treatment of strangles. It has been suggested that antibiotic treatment of horses with strangles is contraindicated because it promotes the development of metastatic infection. Since there is no evidence to support this contention, horses with strangles should be treated with therapeutic doses of an appropriate antibiotic, such as procaine penicillin, for a period of time sufficient to effect a cure. The very contagious nature of strangles requires rigorous control measures.
Newly arrived animals, including nurse mares, should be observed for signs of strangles for three weeks before admission to the resident population. Rectal temperature should be monitored twice daily. Horses with elevated temperatures should have nasopharyngeal or guttural pouch swabs cultured. be promptly isolated. All potential fomites, including pails, brooms and grooAffected horses should ming brushes, should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Nasopharyngeal swabs or washes from recovered animals should be cultured or tested by PCR to demonstrate cessation of nasal shedding.
Immunity and vaccination: Foals that receive adequate high quality colostrums from exposed or vaccinated mares have serum and nasopharyngeal mucosal immunoglobulins that provide resistance to S. equi infection. The efficacy of vaccination of adult horses with S. equi bacterins or M protein extracts is controversial. A common vaccination protocol involves the administration of an M protein vaccine intramuscularly for an initial course of 3 injections at 2-week intervals, with further administration of the vaccine every 6 months in animals at increased risk of contracting the disease. On breeding farms, the vaccination of mares during the last 4-6 weeks of gestation and of the foals at 2-3 months of age may reduce the incidence of the disease.
The intramuscular vaccine frequently causes swelling and pain at the injection site. Injection into the cervical muscles may cause the horse to be unable to lower its head to eat and drink for several days. Injection into the pectoral muscles is preferred for this reason. Purpura hemorrhagica has been reported associated with administration of the S. equi vaccine.
An intranasal vaccine of an avirulent, live strain of S. equi has recently been reported and appears useful. However, its efficacy in field situations, safety in the face of an outbreak, in pregnant mares, incidence of adverse effects, and risk of reversion to virulence have not been reported.
ABOVE EXCERPT TAKEN FROM ANIMAL DISEASE DIAGNOSTIC LABORTORY
Other useful links:
AAEP Guidelines for Vaccination of Horses
Guidelines For The Vaccination of Horses - AAEP
http://www.marylandhorseindustry.org/Strangles.pdf
http://www.equiery.com/archives/MHIB/MHIB_2003_07.pdf
EVERY ONE VACCINATE YOUR HORSES ACCORDINGLY
AND TAKE THE PROPER PRECAUTIONS!
Vaccinate all you equidae
(i.e. asses, donkeys, mules, miniature horses, and zebras if you got'em)
*********************************************************
Strangles is an infectious, transmissible, world-wide disease of horses, donkeys and mules. It continues to rank among the three most significant respiratory diseases of horses. Its widespread distribution is favored by its highly contagious mode of spread and a mobile horse population.
Strangles is highly contagious, with transmission occurring by the oral and nasal routes. Communal drinking sources, population density, and mobility are important risk factors. S. equi may survive for several weeks in water troughs, but dies quickly in soil and on pasture. It will remain viable in frozen discharges; otherwise survival requires moisture and protection from sunlight.
Treatment and control: There is considerable debate about the antibiotic treatment of strangles. It has been suggested that antibiotic treatment of horses with strangles is contraindicated because it promotes the development of metastatic infection. Since there is no evidence to support this contention, horses with strangles should be treated with therapeutic doses of an appropriate antibiotic, such as procaine penicillin, for a period of time sufficient to effect a cure. The very contagious nature of strangles requires rigorous control measures.
Newly arrived animals, including nurse mares, should be observed for signs of strangles for three weeks before admission to the resident population. Rectal temperature should be monitored twice daily. Horses with elevated temperatures should have nasopharyngeal or guttural pouch swabs cultured. be promptly isolated. All potential fomites, including pails, brooms and grooAffected horses should ming brushes, should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Nasopharyngeal swabs or washes from recovered animals should be cultured or tested by PCR to demonstrate cessation of nasal shedding.
Immunity and vaccination: Foals that receive adequate high quality colostrums from exposed or vaccinated mares have serum and nasopharyngeal mucosal immunoglobulins that provide resistance to S. equi infection. The efficacy of vaccination of adult horses with S. equi bacterins or M protein extracts is controversial. A common vaccination protocol involves the administration of an M protein vaccine intramuscularly for an initial course of 3 injections at 2-week intervals, with further administration of the vaccine every 6 months in animals at increased risk of contracting the disease. On breeding farms, the vaccination of mares during the last 4-6 weeks of gestation and of the foals at 2-3 months of age may reduce the incidence of the disease.
The intramuscular vaccine frequently causes swelling and pain at the injection site. Injection into the cervical muscles may cause the horse to be unable to lower its head to eat and drink for several days. Injection into the pectoral muscles is preferred for this reason. Purpura hemorrhagica has been reported associated with administration of the S. equi vaccine.
An intranasal vaccine of an avirulent, live strain of S. equi has recently been reported and appears useful. However, its efficacy in field situations, safety in the face of an outbreak, in pregnant mares, incidence of adverse effects, and risk of reversion to virulence have not been reported.
ABOVE EXCERPT TAKEN FROM ANIMAL DISEASE DIAGNOSTIC LABORTORY
Other useful links:
AAEP Guidelines for Vaccination of Horses
Guidelines For The Vaccination of Horses - AAEP
http://www.marylandhorseindustry.org/Strangles.pdf
http://www.equiery.com/archives/MHIB/MHIB_2003_07.pdf
Last edited:
Grasshopper must take things slowly, your day will come.
I step on slow bugs....
