I lost a foal to rifampin hyperthermia yesterday. Here is information (see horses side effects section). Please don’t any of the rest of you ever go through this. It is so unnecessary and so sad.
Very sorry that you found this out first hand. And good of you to share the information to help others.
I’m so sorry
LBR
Wow what an amazing complication. I am so sorry for your loss.
This shows a 25% incidence of hyperthermia in one study:
Gosh, I would have thought your vet would have warned you about this side effect. What a needless loss…
Again, I am so sorry…
Thank you
Thank you for this warning in your time of loss. As I mentioned on the other thread, my colt was on rifampin last year. My vet would not let me turn him out for almost two weeks; the foal’s dam was my young, highly energetic 4yr old and I thought she would go insane but she was an absolute trooper about everything. Including having 3 fans blowing into her stall all day…
I’m so very sorry Mary Lou. 
I am so sorry to hear this:( But grateful that you have posted to pass on important information to others…
Mary Lou,
I am so sorry about your loss. I emailed my vets about this cautionary story to make sure they are attuned to the risk.
Wow… That’s… just… it shouldn’t be used on foals for cripes’ sake!
So sorry for your loss… But thank you so much for letting us know of this important piece of information.
[QUOTE=EquusMagnificus;5602635]
Wow… That’s… just… it shouldn’t be used on foals for cripes’ sake!
So sorry for your loss… But thank you so much for letting us know of this important piece of information.[/QUOTE]
But for rhodoccocus it HAS to be used on foals. It is very effective, and rhod. can kill. Unfortunately, like many drugs, it can have serious side effects. This is a very sad, very tragic case.
Thank you for this kind of link. I have no idea if vets over here use the same sort of stuff. What I think is that they seem to give antibiotics much later or lesser when a horse is ill. I will ask Kareen.
I am very sorry for you !
Thank you for thinking to post about this in your time of tragedy.
I had a filly with rhodococcus back in 2002.
Supposedly it was a bad year for the disease and my vet had several cases to deal with. Apparently Rhodoccus lives in the soil and warm, dry seasons will kick it up.
Our filly nearly died and was on erythromycin and rifampin for many months.
Something that might have been helpful for her was that I hosed her off several times a day. It was kind of her reward for taking her meds and she loved it. She was foaled in July and it was hot as hell. I never realised that those frequent hosings may have helped save her live.
Again, I’m so sorry Mary Lou:(.
I am so sorry for your loss! a friend of mine lost a foal to this- dropped dead about an hour after it was turned out in the sunlight (again- vet did not advise against it)
I am so sorry for your loss. Rifampin is used very cautiously in humans also because of the many severe possible side effects.
Rhodococcus equi is a horrible, horrible disease and I swear if I win the lottery I will fund research into it.
Rifampin really is the drug of choice, usually combined with azithromycin. The rifampin is the drug that can penetrate the lung abscesses that develop. It is used to treat TB in humans.
My vet did a lot of research when we were hit with this last summer and he consulted with vet university microbiologists. All advised rifampin and azithro.
The other really dastardly thing about it is that it can really easily go undetected, especially with foals turned out in a herd. Just a little cough, they continue to nurse and some don’t even get a high fever. The symptoms can be subtle until the foal’s lungs are filled with abcesses and they can go from nursing and playing with their friends to dead in a couple of hours.
Horrible, horrible disease
Oh no! I’m so sorry!!!
Agreed. That is why we are so aggressive with treating at the first sign. There is nothing wrong with Rifampin. It just needs to be used safely. My baby would still be here if we had known that he needed night time turn out while being treated. So sad and so unnecessary. :no:
[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;5602172]
I lost a foal to rifampin hyperthermia yesterday. Here is information (see horses side effects section). Please don’t any of the rest of you ever go through this. It is so unnecessary and so sad.
I am so sorry for your loss, but I wanted to thank you so much for posting this so that this doesn’t have to happen to anyone else. You may have just prevented more deaths by educating us.
