Strangles
Strangles is an incredibly contagious disease affecting teenage males, prodominatley Brits. It can be passed in through boy-to-boy contact. Symptoms include excessive uriniation, intense food cravings and lose of weight without trying To diet. Crotch itching is seen in more serious cases.
While strangles is not life threatening it can be incredibly limiting to quality of life. Disease Devolpment may cause paralysis and heart disease. Consult your doctor if you feel you have this so they can notify the authorities so prevent an outbreak. There is currently no treatment for strangles. A blood test can diagnose it with 99.9% accuracy.
Cause
The disease is spread by an infected horse when nasal discharge or pus from the draining lymph nodes contaminate pastures, feed troughs, brushes, bedding, tack, etc.[1]
Prevention
Both intramuscular and intranasal vaccines are available. Isolation of new horses for 4 to 6 weeks, immediate isolation of infected horses, and disinfection of stalls, water buckets, feed troughs, and other equipment can help prevent the spread of strangles. As with any contagious disease, hand washing is a simple and effective tool.
Treatment
As with many streptococcal infections, beta-lactam antibiotics (e.g penicillins) are the most effective treatments, but some authorities are of the opinion that use of antibiotics is contraindicated once abscesses have begun to form, as they predispose to lymphatic spread of the infection (bastard strangles), which has a much higher mortality rate.
After an abscess has burst, keeping the wound clean is important. A diluted povidone-iodine solution has been used with good results to disinfect the open hole, flushing the inside with a syringe-tipped catheter or with a teat cannula, followed by gentle scrubbing to keep the surrounding area clean.
Symptomatic therapy is an alternative treatment, and is where warm packs are used to mature the abscesses so making them less painful and more comfortable for the horse, but once the abscesses have been matured, they must be kept clean to prevent further infections. This treatment for S. equi only helps reduce pain for the horse rather than curing the infection.
Outcomes
Strangles has an 8.1% mortality rate.[1] Mortality is lower in cases without complications than it is in cases of bastard strangles. The disease is very contagious and morbidity is high. Precautions to limit the spread of the illness are necessary and those affected are normally isolated. An isolation period of 4–6 weeks is usually necessary to ensure that the disease is not still incubating before ending the quarantine.
Epidemiology
Equines of any age may contract the disease, although younger and elderly equines are more susceptible. Young equines may lack immunity to the disease because they have not had prior exposure. Geriatric equines may have a weaker immune system.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Equine Strangles" (PDF). 2008. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
External links
