From: Kelly
Hello Jessica, I just received a copy of your news letter from my very horse supportive husband and I was blown away by the wonderful amount of information you have compiled here. Thank you very much.
Recently I noticed one of my favorite horses was dull eyed, slightly off her feed and her neck area, right in back of her jaw was swollen. The manager of my barn said it may be Strangles and the vet will look at it when she gets out there in a day or so. I however became quite concerned as the very word "strangles" invoked images of pain and death. What is this disease, is it fatal, is it contagious and if contagious what is the best method of containment?
Again, thank you for your news letter and your time, Kelly
If your barn manager really thinks that this horse has Strangles, she's being very casual about it. Strangles is a dangerous and highly infectious disease. I suggest that you ring your vet - or the barn vet - and have a chat on the subject. Meanwhile, here's some information to get you started.
Strangles is caused by a specific bacterium: Streptococcus equi. Typical symptoms of afflicted horses include coughing, swollen lymph nodes, and an obvious yellow nasal discharge. The neck and face swellings typically result in abscesses which interfere with the horse's ability to breathe and swallow - that's why it's called "Strangles".
Strangles cases can be mild, severe, or fatal. Most are not fatal, thank heaven, but all are unpleasant. Sometimes the abscesses break and drain through the skin. Occasionally, a horse will develop "Bastard Strangles", which means that the strangles infection isn't limited to the lymph glands in the head and neck, but spreads to other parts of the body. Bastard Strangles is every horse-owner's nightmare, and every vet's nightmare, because it's usually fatal.
Strangles is a difficult disease to deal with, because of the way most barns are managed, with many horses in contact with each other, with many different humans, and with tack, equipment, and areas such as stalls, arenas, mounting blocks, wash stalls, grooming areas, etc. Most barns are not set up like hospital wards, and it can be extremely difficult to isolate a horse from all the other horses. A fence separating two horses is not enough - even a pasture separating two other pastures isn't enough, since a horse in pasture A may have nasal contact with a horse in pasture B, which may, in turn, have nasal contact with a horse in pasture C! The only practical way to fight the spread of Strangles is to isolate the infected animal and then to ensure that NOTHING that has been in contact with that animal comes into contact with any other animal on the place. It's more easily said than done, unfortunately. Stable environments are friendly to the strangles organism. A contaminated rub rag, brush, saddle pad, halter, cross tie, or stall wall can remain contaminated for up to a month, which means that if there is ONE horse with Strangles on the property, it's best to assume that every horse on the property is at risk.
There are commercial products - your vet will be able to recommend some - that can be used to clean and disinfect everything that's touched or been touched by the infected horse. But don't forget that at any busy horse facility, there are people constantly moving through the barns, cleaning stalls, feeding, watering, grooming, sweeping the aisles, etc. - and every single one of those people can carry the infection from horse to horse. All it takes is for a person to c ome into contact with the infected horse - or with the horse's stall or bucket or brush. Ask your vet about products and precautions that will help humans avoid spreading the disease throughout the barn during the weeks (or longer) that individual horses are infected. The humans won't get the disease themselves - that's one good thing. ;-)
It's essential to take every possible precaution, because the only method of controlling or preventing a barn-wide Strangles outbreak is to identify affected animals as soon as possible, isolate them, and make every effort to prevent the spread of the disease to the other animals on the property. The only way to be sure that an affected horse has "gotten over" the disease and is no longer contagious is to keep swabbing the horse's nose and throat - usually at weekly intervals - and check for the bacterium. It's also important to use an endoscope to get a sample from the horse's guttural pouches and check THAT sample for the bacterium before declaring the horse "disease free" and allowing it to rejoin the other horses.
The whole Strangles issue is made even more complicated because the currently-available vaccines don't prevent horses getting Strangles, they just help ensure that if the horses DO get Strangles, their cases will be mild instead of severe or fatal. Vaccines are always tricky - talk to your vet about this!
Many barn managers are fairly casual about administering penicillin to horses with infections, but don't let anyone medicate your horse until you and your vet have had a chance to talk about the situation. Above all, don't let anyone give antibiotics to your horse until your vet has evaluated the horse's condition and discussed the treatment with you. Antibiotics can have dramatic and wonderful effects on some infections, but they're not brilliantly successful when it comes to dealing with abscesses. It makes sense when you think about it - the antibiotic has to reach the infection in order to fight it, and abscesses are so damaging and slow to heal precisely because they typically have no circulation. If your horse is in the very first stages of developing Strangles, and doesn't yet have full-fledged swelling of its lymph nodes, your vet may think that antibiotics could help. Antibiotics given at the wrong time, in the wrong way, or in the wrong amounts could make a case of Strangles WORSE, so be SURE to work with your vet if your horse is infected.
In this case, since the horse in question belongs to someone else, you may not be able to do anything to affect the course of treatment. But please DO make an effort to talk to the vet, and find out what the barn manager and other staff SHOULD be doing. Also find out what you should and should not do. Certainly if the horse is even suspected of having Strangles, you should stay away from it and everything that touches it, and be very careful to avoid handling brushes, tack, and equipment that may have been in contact with that horse. The vet can advise you on how to keep yourself from carrying the disease to other horses, in this barn and elsewhere. The disease is not necessarily fatal, but it is nasty, and NOT something that any horse owner or rider - or barn manager - should think of as a casual inconvenience. It's far more serious than that.
Jessica
Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org
Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.