Strangles

Re: Strangles

Elisabeth Knappett — Thu, 30 May 2013 12:54:13 GMT

Thanks for all the advice - appears to have been a bit of a storm in a teacup. No new cases thankfully, and the 2 confirmed making a good recovery so far. My clients happy with the biosecurity and monitoring advice given and (knocking VERY hard on wood) no signs in any of them yet! Just glad that all the owners were sensible and honest about the issue - defintely helped stop the spread.

Re: Strangles

Wren — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:38:33 GMT

Vaccination is only an adjunct to quarantine and biosecurity. The course requires two vaccs 4 weeks apart - I don't think you've got much coverage against the disease until about a week after the second vacc so it's not a quick-fix. I think it's probably a good idea in your situation but it's not going to 100% prevent the disease (obviously no vaccine can). I wouldn't generally particularly recommend vaccination unless you are in an area where there are regular strangles outbreaks - you can vaccinate yearly then if the outbreak is more than 6 months from the booster give a 'top-up' vaccination which should take the titres back above protective levels. I also recommend vaccination in high risk situations eg. a combined livery/dealing yard where there is a high turnover of horses from unknown sources.

As far as I know the vaccine wasn't withdrawn because of any clinical problems with it, but because there was a quality control problem to do with expiry dates.

Re: Strangles

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:36:38 GMT

Bastard strangles really is that-a total bastard. My first pony died of it, so if the vaccine reduces the risk of lymph node involvement it's probably worth while

Wynne

Re: Strangles

Emily Rainbow — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:53:29 GMT

My notes say vaccinated horses will test positive on serum ELISA, and possibly PCR and culture of swabs. They state that PCR for the AroA gene can distinguish between natural infection and vaccination if that's of any help?

the HBLB codes of practice state:
"...This vaccine is licenced to reduce clinical signs and the occurrence of lymph node abscesses and not to prevent infection, so may only be appropriate to use for horses that are confirmed to be at high risk of infection."

Re: Strangles

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:46:05 GMT

Strangles is a really awfuldisease. My understanding is the vaccine isn't perfect-when it 1st came out,there were some horses that went down with a severe form of the disease after vaccination-it was withdrawn for a while

My inclination would be to vaccinate-AND have strict biosecurity protocols

Wynne