Allergy to alternaria alternata

[mariaandefe]

Hi guys,

My horse who had recurrent hives in the winter got allergy tested and he has a severe reaction 4 to alternaria alternata (mould) he also had a couple small level 1-2 reactions to barley, ustilago (fungus) and two types of flies.

I cannot do immunotherapy as it’s a miracle that I even got him allergy tested. So does anyone know how I can reduce the amount of mould in his environment. He is stabled indoors, but he has a big window and there is a lot of airflow during the day. What else could I do to reduce the mould by a significant amount?

All help appreciated as I cannot let him suffer this coming winter again
Edit: I am not too worried about the flies and feed as the reaction levels are quite low, I’m only worried about the alternaria alternata

Thank you

[IPEsq]

I think with horses needing bedding and forage, it’s going to be extremely difficult to make meaningful environmental change for that particular issue. I feel your pain, because my horse is highly allergic to all sorts of mites/dust mites, among other things. As much as I’d like the barn, bedding, hay, etc. to be dust free, that just isn’t practical.

[mariaandefe]

How do you manage to keep your horses allergies not as severe?

[cayuse]

I have a pony allergic to lots of things. It’s so hard to control the environment like IPEsq said.

IDK where this particular mold tend to grow but check under your stall mats frequently if you have them. You’d be amazed at the crud that was growing under mine one summer. I keep my stalls very clean so I was floored by what was on the floor when we moved the mats for a deep cleaning.

[mariaandefe]

I started cleaning under his mat once a week, will increase to twice a week now. And I will have to clean the roof too. Thanks!

[4horses]

Strip the stalls and beach everything. Here in Florida even the barn walls on my newly painted barn start molding in the summer.

Perhaps a hay steamer for mold in the hay? As I suspect that would be the main source of exposure.

[IPEsq]

Yeah it’s probably in the forage or any old forage that gets mixed in the bedding. Hay steamer is a good idea.

I wound up doing allergy shots for my horse, and it’s helping him a lot. He can be needle shy but the subcutaneous needles are so tiny, he has gotten used to it. Now he’s on a schedule where he only gets 1 shot a month.

[Critter]

I also went the route of allergy shots for my mare…I was so stressed about whether she would get needle shy, but she’s super easy about the shots.

My girl also lives on zyrtec (generic)…14 tabs 2x day. Between the shots and zyrtec she has minimal symptoms now.

[mariaandefe]

Do you mean bleach? I painted his walls not that long ago, I planned on repainting them soon. I would get a hay steamer, except they don’t manufacture in Turkey and I don’t think i can get one delivered to Turkey.

Thanks!

[mariaandefe]

Yeah immunotherapy would be my next option, but it’s a miracle I could get him allergy tested as they don’t do them here for horses, I found a clinic that does. But they don’t do allergy shots

[mariaandefe]

Mine is not needle shy at all, the problem is that they don’t produce allergy shots here…He only has symptoms in the winter (severe hives). Also nothing like zyrtec here; which is such a pain.
Thanks!

[IPEsq]

Could you get anything like that shipped from the EU?

[4horses]

Yes bleach is what I meant.

I think you can make a homemade hay steamer. Try Google for ideas.

[mariaandefe]

Do you mean allergy shots? Are allergy shots and immunotherapy the same thing?

For immunotherapy I have to take his blood to the EU and get vaccines specially made for him. I’m not a licensed person to do that, however customs from the Netherlands stated that I don’t need anything to take his serum to the lab

[IPEsq]

Yes it is the same thing. What method did you use to test him in the first place? Once the company that makes the shots has the list of allergens, then they can make up a serum to address those allergens. You would not need to send the blood across unless the company wants to do their own testing with the blood to confirm the allergy. But the allergy shot products are prescription products in the US so I wasn’t sure if there would be a restriction in shipping that to you from the EU. I know a horse in Germany that needed immunotherapy for a skin allergy issue and so it is something that’s available there at least.

[mariaandefe]

I sent his serum to a company that does allergy testing, they however told me that they don’t do the vaccines.
I can text the lab in the EU (Laboklin) to see if they can do the allergy shots