Symptoms can be similar to Lyme and it can be a co-infection, carried by ticks. My mare seems to have some of the symptoms and now we’ve added gastric glandular ulcers. Having trouble finding info on Bartonella in horses.
Bruno Chomel is a leading authority on it, although not necessarily in equines. Perhaps your vets can consult with him via his UC Davis profile. He is retired but still active and lives in town.
Jingles for your mare!
Try looking it up as “Bartonella”. It causes cat scratch fever among other things. There’s info on the CDC website that’ll let you know what tick borne diseases are common in your area. Here in eastern Massachusetts we have a real collection of them: Borrelia (Lyme and other diseases), Babesia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Tularemia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Powassan virus. Not all infect horses, but vets are learning more every year. At this point I believe that the majority of ticks tested carry more than one infectious agent.
Thank you! I’ll look him up.
That’s what happens when you’ve been researching until your eyes are falling out! Of course. Bartonella. I feel really stupid. I am in Vermont, so we have plenty of ticks. My mare has been vaccinated for Lyme, but I’m even dubious about the efficacy (and safety) of that. She tests “normal” for a vaccinated horse for Lyme, but the tests don’t mention Bartonella.
This may be of interest:
Detection of Bartonella henselae in the Blood of 2 Adult Horses
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1939-1676.2008.0043.x
From 2008, and makes no claims that B. henselae is an equine pathogen, though it is suggestive.
A (human) friend of mine was diagnosed with it after several years of severe, unexplained neurological symptoms: Bells Palsy & MS-like issues. These diseases don’t always manifest the same way across species, but I’m curious if a statistically significant number of horses with Bartonella also exhibit neurological problems.
