RE: RC: Strangles

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Mon, 7 May 2001 11:11:35 AM Eastern Daylight Time, "Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com> writes:

<< Heidi, if you read the article again, Dr. O says that they lose their
immunity over time "perhaps as short as 2 years."
He is not disagreeing with you.  >>

Here is his quote:

<1) There is no doubt that experimentally Strangles horses loose their
immunity over time, perhaps as short as 2 years. Experience suggests in the
real world a longer lasting immunity, some think life time. I have seen
horses in the middle of outbreak surrounded by sick horses that remained
free of the disease but had no history of prior infection or vaccination.
Then again I had not know the horses that well.>

So, he is citing experimental cases having waning immunities, but suggesting that it may be different in real life.  I am suggesting that real life is indeed similar to the experimental cases.  It sounds here as if he is quoting others and not really expressing a clear-cut opinion from his own experience.  I know from my own experience as well as from the experiences of others that the immunity is not lifetime, and I haven't talked to anyone active in the field of immunology that still holds that belief, either.  Regarding horses that do not get sick in a given outbreak--they may or may not be immune, as all diseases have a pattern  of "morbidity" (the number that get sick) and it is rarely 100% for any disease.  I can't cite precise morbidity figures for strangles, but although it has a high morbidity, it does not approach 100%.  This doesn't mean that the horses who stay well necessarily have an immunity from a previous exposure.  While Dr. O does not come right out and say !
that they do, he is inferring th
at he thinks they might.

Heidi