Strangles is a nasty and highly contagious respiratory disease in horses. The good news is that vaccination can help protect your horse and reduce the impact if the infection strikes.
The intramuscular vaccine Equivac-S (available as a stand-alone or in Equivac 2-in-1 with tetanus) helps reduce the severity of a strangles infection. While vaccination doesn’t guarantee full immunity, studies show it can reduce disease severity in up to 50% of horses.
Vaccination is especially recommended for:
Horses travelling for competition, treks, or racing.
Horses moving between studs, sales, or grazing properties.
Horses that routinely mix with large groups of horses.
The vaccine course is three injections at 2-week intervals, followed by regular boosters.
What is strangles?
Strangles is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi equi. and spreads quickly through direct horse-to-horse contact, shared equipment, feed, water, and also via clothing and footwear.
Strangles can cause the following clinical signs:
Fever
Loss of appetite
Large amounts of thick yellow nasal discharge
Lymph node swelling under the jaw or around the throatlatch area
Up to 90% of horses in a naïve population can be infected, and of those, up to 20% are at risk of serious complications including bastard strangles or purpura haemorrhagica.
While most horses make a full recovery, some may become long-term carriers, silently spreading the disease within the population.
How does it spread?
Strangles isn’t airborne, but it spreads very easily through:
Nose-to-nose contact between horses
Shared water troughs, feed buckets, or tack
Clothing, boots, and via the hands of people moving between horses
Even dogs visiting paddocks!
Remember, bacteria can survive in damp environments for up to 34 days. That means mud, snot, or shared water can remain contagious long after an infected horse has been moved.
You can reduce the risk of infection by:
Isolating new arrivals for 3 weeks
Using separate gear for each horse
Monitoring temperatures daily
Practicing strict personal hygiene
Prevention is always easier than managing an outbreak! Call us at VetSouth Invercargill to discuss a vaccination plan tailored for your horses, and to hear about the vaccination discounts that we have available in August and September.
