What are strangles and what are the symptoms?

Question

What are strangles and what are the symptoms?

Answer 1

Strangles is a viral infection that is very contagious.  There are pouches in the horses neck - pretty close to where the jaw meets the neck, and those pouches fill with puss.  Usually you will see some swelling, a runny nose, a fever, and lethargy.  In the best case scenario the pouches will rupture and drain on there own - or just go down.  A worse case scenario is if they don't break, and eventually the vet has to come out and lance them to get them to drain.

You can get vaccines for it but they are not 100%.  The best defense is to quarntine new horses for a few weeks to make sure they are healthy before you put them with the rest of the horses.

Answer 2

would like to add that it is best to treat rather than to wait and see if it goes away on its own. and probably best to treat all horses in the same pen since it is so contagious

Answer 3

http://www.cyberhorse.net.au/csl/strangl...

A link to Pfizer Labs blog on strangles, descriptions and treatments.

Answer 4

Strangles is a BACTERIAL infection, NOT a viral infection. It is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus Equi, a close cousin of the same bug which causes strep throat in people. In fact, strangles is often referred to as the equine version of strep throat, because the symptoms it produces are so similar to what is typically seen in an infected person, although humans cannot catch strangles from an infected horse.

The symptoms of strangles are as follows: the horse is feverish, and has a snotty nose with a greenish or yellowish discharge- one which may or may not have an odor. The animal is exhausted, and generally will be off his or her feed. In later stages of the infection, the horse's lymph glands in the throat will become swollen and abscessed, and most horses will refuse to eat or drink entirely at this point, because of the pain in their throat. Once the abscesses open and start to drain, the horse usually will experience great relief from the pain, and start eating and drinking again. Sometimes, the abscesses appear in more than just the throat glands- they can also occur in the face and head.

Most cases of strangles are uncomplicated, and the great majority of the time, horses will usually recover without problems. Occasionally, however, a secondary infection will develop and the infection will attack the horse's vital organs,such as the heart, liver, brain, and kidneys. This is extremely serious, and is often fatal to horses that develop it- and it is the complication known by the nickname "b*****d" strangles. There is also a closely related condition involving bleeding under the skin and into the tissues which can sometimes happen, called purperea hemorrhagica. I have known at least one horse, a young mare, who developed this condition and died from it, but fortunately, it's relatively rare.

Strangles is HIGHLY contagious-and it's also a very hardy bug which can live in the soil and water for YEARS after the last infected horse recovers, which is one reason why it's imperative that yearly vaccinations be kept up with. It is spread through close contact, such as might occur when horses share a common feeder or water trough, or touch each other across a fence line, and when items which are used on sick horses are also used on healthy animals.  This bacteria is also particularly partial to places where the ground is wet, boggy, or muddy all the time- it thrives in moist environments. The disease DOES respond to antibiotic therapy, but there is an enormous amount of controversy and disagreement among diffferent vets as to whether or not antibiotics should be used to treat it. Some vets I have known think that this disease has to run its course, and that horses are better off without therapy. Others are just the opposite, and demand that antibiotic treatment be started at the first sign of infection, and that strict quarantine measures be followed. Still other vets I have talked to seem to feel that antibiotics should not be used unless a secondary infection develops and the disease bastardizes. With all this disagreement, the only thing I can suggest to you, the asker, is to talk with your vet and with other vets in your area, and see what the prevailing consensus is on this topic.

There is an equal amount of controversy about whether or not horses should be given strangles vaccines. Most of the vaccines available have very poor effacacy rates- less than 50% in most cases- and there have been plenty of cases in which vaccinated horses have gotten sick. Some of them have come down with the disease within days of being vaccinated, in fact, or they have had the shot and then gotten sick a few months down the road. It's also not clear whether or not vaccination lessens the severity of the infection in horses which get sick afterwards. Again, I would talk to your own vet and see what he or she thinks about this, before making a decision about whether or not to vaccinate your horse. If you DO decide to vaccinate, then you need to make sure that the horse's vaccination schedule is kept up to date, and followed closely, because one of the hazards of vaccination is that this introduces the bacteria into the soil and water, where it can live for years. This means as well that any time you have a new horse which comes on your property, or you move your horse to a new barn, you need to have him or her revaccinated and given a booster. Also, any horse that is shown a lot, or must travel a lot, needs to have a shot before he or she leaves to go on the road, because such animals get exposed to a lot of strange horses, and there is often no way to tell who is carrying what infections around.

I hope this helps you out.

Answer 5

Here's a great link that describes it better than I could!

http://www.zoologix.com/horse/Datasheets...

Answer 6

strangles, in simple terms, is strep throat for horse, its caused my the same thing- Streptococcus..

in horses, it causes extra green/yellow colored mucus from the nose and eventually will lead to swollen lymph glands in the throat, which then pop and ooze (gross, i know.)

it is HIGHLY contagious, and if your horse or another horse on your farm has it you should not leave the property with the animal, if you touch a horse infected with it you need to clean yourself very well before touching other horses...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangles

wiki does a good job of explaining it..

if your farm/horse has strangles message me-i'm dealing with it at my barn at the moment an can go into greated detail if you'd like.