Do only foals get Lawsonia???

[TrueColours]

Or can mature horses get it as well? If so - is it as debilitating for mature horses as it is for foals?

Do foals get it only from other foals or can they pick it up from a mature horse?

Can it be passed if manure from an affected horse ends up on your property on someone’s footwear?

Anyone know the lifespan of it if it comes onto your property this way? Minutes? Hours? Days?

A fellow breeder had one of their babies affected and touch wood have never had it with any of my foals. It appears the foal is out of the woods due to quick intervention on their part but just cautious now about having any horse people come onto the property and around the horses

Thanks!

[Tiki]

I think it’s generally found in foals of 4 to 7 months. One of my foals came down with it. He was fine at breakfast and down on the ground halfway to noon. His gut was essentially destroyed. They had to carry him into the clinic. He was suffering greatly and I had him put down. The senior vet was called in to see him after he was put down and said based on the condition of his intestinal tract I had definitely made the right decision to put him down. Horrible and extremely rapid disease.

None of the other foals on the property were ever affected.

[lauriep]

My understanding is that it lives in the soil and survives for YEARS. I have only heard of foals getting it. And those that do are usually stressed/compromised in some way. Shows up a lot after weaning. If caught early, is curable, but if not, it is tough to have a good outcome.

[Rosie10]

Its normally foals that get it, if you read around then its 2 - 13 months of age. It can range from mild to severe, or just exposure - some foals will get it but never become sick, they will just shred the bacteria in there droppings and develop antibodies. It is spread to other horses/foals in the manure. Can be carried on your feet, wheel barrows etc, other animals. If a foal has it then its dam will most likely also have been exposed to it but mature horses don’t normally get it (nobody knows why). If a mare has antibodies for it then her foal will probably have antibodies from the dam in the colostrum according to this which is interesting to read: http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/student-theses/2009-1221-200322/Lawsonia.pdf

I had a 6.5 month foal test positive for it on a fecal test last October. Six weeks later (end November last year) my then 17 month filly became poorly (lost her appetite/mild colic). She has antibodies/ is seropositive for lawsonia. She was treated for lawsonia just in case. She did have some thickening in her small intestine at one point but don’t know for certain if she actually had a bit of it or not. She is still not right 9 months later, probably has an adhesion but its not in her small intestine (can be felt on a rectal).
I tested (blood serology test) 4 of my homebred (never been off the farm) mares in May this year to see if all my horses were seropositive for lawsonia which if it was in the farm enviroment then they would/should be. These 4 mares have been turned out together on the same fields all there life, ages 5yrs, 2 x 7yrs and 15yrs. Two are positive (both 7yr olds) and two are negative. One of the positive mares is the dam of the 6.5 month foal, the other was in the stable next to her at the time. That mare also had a foal at foot and i’m fairly certain that that foal infected my 17 month filly (who was no where near the infected foal/mares). That foal was weaned and 17 month filly went in that stable straight after that foal left here and then became poorly 18 days later. That foal was never poorly. My two positive mares were never poorly.

Google it, loads of info out there. Some links:
http://www.equiman.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=411704
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=322859
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22715937
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/eidrl/local-assets/pdfs/Article_31.pdf

[VirginiaBred]

It’s brought on by stresses in that age range (i.e. - weaning) and unfortunately the symptoms are confusing and often the disease goes undiagnosed for too long. Evil disease.