Well another update on my guys.
After my first DD scare, I stayed away from DD, but felt it was best (eventhough not vet recommended) to do a single dose Ivermectin on both horses 7 days later and another single dose again 7 days later.
Result. Nothing abnormal in my grey horse. The other one, who originally coliced after DD, now has one lump, the size of an egg on his flank, just below his last ribs. Also some very mild corrugated skin in neck, but hard to tell due to winter coat. He is not showing any signs of itchiness.
So I’m now left wondering if I should continue single doses twice more or stop here. It’s just so weird that this eggshaped lump appeared only a day after his 2nd single dose Ivermectin.
I’m having visions of this eggshaped lump being a curled up adult NTW.
So far on this thread I read only one person actually had the worm visibly come out of the body. So what happens if this lumps disappears on its own. Where did the contents go???
Also re-reading this extract, necropsies of horses after multiple doses, showed the adult NTW’s where still alive. So go long do we have to keep going with the Ivermectin, months on end?
http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=316524
Ivermectin paste formulation (200 micrograms/kg) was administered orally to 27 horses (13 Thoroughbreds and 14 of mixed breeding) to evaluate activity against adult Onchocerca spp in the ligamentum nuchae. Ages, known or estimated, of the horses ranged from 1 to 22 years. Single or multiple doses (1 to 5) of the drug were given to each horse. When multiple doses were administered, the intervals between treatments ranged from 7 to 92 days. At 27 to 171 days after initial treatment (single dose or first of multiple doses), the horses were killed. Some of the horses treated more than once were killed as soon as 7 days after the last treatment. At necropsy, Onchocerca spp were found in the ligamentum nuchae of 24 (89%) of the 27 horses. All of the specimens were pieces of worms, apparently adult, which appeared to be alive. The only noninfected horses were 2 to 3 years old. In 18 (75%) of the 24 infected horses, microfilariae, most being obviously viable, were found in the worm specimens or ligamentum nuchae.
I was also thinking the other night about how much more common sweet itch is in the Netherlands / England then in the US (as far as I’ve been able to pick up on). And I was also wondering if that is because those countries don’t have permethrin based flysprays. Deet is allowed in the UK, not in the Netherlands, could this be why sweet itch spreads so quickly there, no effective means of midge control?
Then again I get so confused and doubtfull, as I know A LOT of research has gone into sweet itch in both these countries, so surely sufficient skin biopsies must have been taken there and would have revealed microfilariae??
My regular vet will be here this thursday and I’m very anxious to bring this up, but I fear I’ll sound like a lunatic freaking out over a horse that suddenly has one lump. How credible will I sound? I’m pondering on ways to phrase my concern correctly to my vet, so at least I stand a chance of getting my concerns across.
I have no doubt that this lump appeared in direct relation to my 3rd ivermectin dose, but how to convince the vet?
I’d love to find out from people with sweet itch horses that had biopsies done what the findings where.
Also should we now be thinking along the lines that collagen granuloma could be linked to NTW, rather then just being written off as allergy to fly bites? As this article describes it. http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/illnesses_injuries/eqbumps2192/
Two-odd years ago my horse has a collagen granulama along his spine in the saddle area that took months to be re-absorped. And I always had a hard time accepting a fly had bitten him there, considering he’s flysheeted day & night and when ridden the saddle sat in that place. Theoretically it is possible a fly got under the sheet, but still it always baffled me…
Argggg too many questions, too few answers.
And, if search is working, I started a thread several months ago on the latter issue, and included the link to The Horse article.
