Moreover, the protocol for pronouncing a previously infected horse free from strangles carrier status is 3 negative gutteral pouches flushing tests.
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That is what we did in Maine. According to the vet the outbreak wasn’t that bad because the BO required vaccination.
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Yes, and remember vaccines aren’t 100%, especially if all horses on the property aren’t vaccinated. Hopefully vaccinated horses that do get sick will have a milder/shorter illness. But if they are surrounded by sick, unvaccinated horses with a high viral load, the odds that vaxxed horses will get sick go up.
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I’ve never been a big fan of the strangles vaccine for several reasons.
The IM version tends to cause significant local reactions, and isn’t all that effective.
(I’ve dealt with severe outbreaks at barns where horses were vaccinated with it, back before the IN was available.)
I will grant that it appears to convey some colostral immunity, though.
The IN is somewhat more effective, but there is the occasional case of abcessation related to it.
But I really don’t like the possibility of inciting purpura hemorrhagica by vaccinating a horse which already has a significant titer, and that’s what really makes me shy away from it.
Strangles is a bacterial infection, not a viral one.
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We had kind of an interesting illustration of the vaccine when strangles went through my barn…
A couple of my horses had been vaccinated with the IN for several years in a row, but their coverage wasn’t current, it had been a few years. They got a snotty nose and a bit of a fever. Felt puny, lasted a couple days.
A couple of my horses had never been vaccinated. LOADS of snot, abscessed under the jaw, they felt terrible. Took a few weeks to resolve.
Many other horses on the property belonging to the barn owner had never been vaccinated & developed awful snot and abscessing. One died due to a misplaced dose of penicillin (no, I don’t know why it was being used, my vet didn’t rx any abx for mine.)
One horse on the property didn’t develop infection at all but did develop purpura. No history of any strangles vax in recent history going back several years (or history of infection.) He required hospitalization & lost an eye to fungal infection, likely caused by the steroids used to treat the purpura. He was just really ill, they were happy to have saved his life.
I don’t vaccinate for strangles since they’ve all had it now, but I SURE would if I had a strangles naive horse in a boarding environment!
My horse and a couple of others had no symptoms. He came from Iowa so we had no idea about vaccination history. He got the IN annually before the outbreak. His vet said he should not be vaccinated for strangles since he was in that barn during the outbreak.
The IN version has gotten much easier to administer. It doesn’t need the tube that goes in a nostril. The tech had it down pat. She unloaded it instantaneously at the entrance to the nostril before they knew what was happening.
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Thank you, you’re right: bacterial infection!
Results came back. Not strangles but this has been good info.
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