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Vet Alert - Friday, September 11, 2009
Dr. Unruh diagnosis rabies in a horse in El Paso!
There has been a recent rise in verified rabies in skunks as well as a verified case of rabies in a horse in El Paso County.
Rabies is 100% fatal in horses once a horse begins showing clinical signs. The rabies is spread through a bite, contact with saliva, or contact with neural tissue (brain, spinal cord, cerebrospinal fluid) of an infected animal. The incubation period (the time between exposure to the disease and development of clinical signs) varies from 5 days to over 1 year. Rabies is also a zoonotic disease (which means it can be passed from animals to humans).
Clinical signs of rabies in horses vary widely. Some signs that are reported include:
- depression with loss of appetite
- low grade fever
- rapidly progressing lameness
- increased sensitivity to touch
- colic, and odd behavioral changes.
Due to the wide variability of clinical signs and the fact that there is no reliable test prior to death of an animal, rabies is difficult to diagnose before the horse is dead. Only then can the brain be removed and sent to specific laboratories for confirmation of the disease.
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Dr. Unruh Warns of Rabies in El Paso County |
By the time that the horse is confirmed to have the disease there are invariably humans that are exposed to rabies by the horse.
With the recent rise of rabid skunks in the area, the difficult diagnosis, the risk to humans in contact with a rabid horse and the devastation of losing a horse to the disease, the doctors of Colorado Equine Veterinary Services are strongly recommending that if your horse has not been vaccinated for rabies this past spring that you make it a point to have them vaccinated soon for the benefit of your horse and your family.
CEVS' Tack Box
In The Tack Box, horse owners will find helpful Barn Posters, Charts, Check Lists, Newsletters and Hand Outs. Check back often as new items appear regularly.
The Hand Outs, Barn Posters and Newsletters require Adobe Acrobat Reader. To print the Barn Posters, you will need a large format printer, or you may save them to a jump drive and take them to your local quick print service.
Handouts |
Barn Posters |
Newsletters |
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Signs Your Horse May Need Help
- Not drinking water.
- Signs of distress, anxiety or discomfort.
- Lethargy, depression or a horse that's "off-feed."
- Absence of gut sounds.
- Signs of oncoming lameness: head-bobbing, reluctance to move, odd stance, pain, unwillingness to rise.
- Bleeding, swelling, evidence of pain.
- Seizures, paralysis, or "tying up" (form of muscle cramps that ranges in severity from mild stiffness to life-threatening illness).
The horse's natural behavior makes it accident-prone, our advise, Be Prepared!
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University of Kentucky Equine Research Center (Lexington Disease Diagnostic Center and Maxwell Gluck Equine Research Center)
28AUG2008 Equine Flexural Limb Deformities
An Approach to Case Management by Dr. Alan Ruggles, Board Certified Equine Surgeon, Rood and Riddle Veterinary Hospital in Lexington, KY
31JUL2008 Diagnosing Equine Cushing’s Disease.
Challenge of early diagnosis for Equine Cushing’s Disease also called Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID). Presentation by Dr. Dianne McFarlane of Oklahoma State University.
26JUN2008 Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS)
excerpts from a seminar by Dr. Nicholas Frank, Associate Professor of Equine Medicine at the University of Tennessee and the University of Nottingham - Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS).
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Equine Herpesvirus - LA
Date: Thu 31 Dec 2009
Source: NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune report [edited]
A quarantine of [a trainer's] barn at the Evangeline Training Center in Carencro is in place after a horse based there tested positive for equine herpes, Louisiana State Racing Commission executive director Charles Gardiner said Thursday [31 Dec 2009].
Horses living in that barn are being tested and won't be allowed to ship elsewhere to race until the quarantine is lifted, Gardiner said.
Those horses will be allowed to train after regular training hours.
[This is a very dangerous disease, and horses suspected of having it should not be training. Mod.TG]
"We're taking all the precautions necessary," Asmussen said.
Other horses based at the training center will be allowed to ship to Louisiana tracks, including the Fair Grounds, to race, Gardiner said.
Handlers of those horses must bring proof that the horses had a recent certified veterinary inspection and a recent herpes vaccination. Also, the horses must show a normal temperature reading upon arrival.
Officials of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry are monitoring the situation and satisfied with how it is being handled, Gardiner said.
Equine herpes, a viral disease that can change into a neurological condition, is contracted through the air or by direct contact.
Last season at the Fair Grounds, 2 adjacent barns were quarantined for 3 weeks after a filly tested positive for equine herpes.
[Byline: Bob Fortus]
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