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There
are also a gazillion other types of equine encephalitis, which is what WNV is.
The one time we got someone to test our horses to see if there was WNV at the
barn, the horse prompting the test had something called Zimba. Never heard of
that before, but we were very surprised to see that most of our horses had at
some time contracted about 6 different viruses...and not all of us were people
who did any encephalitis vaccinating...including WNV. At any rate, the treatment
for them all is pretty much the same as Lisa said:
The focus of therapy is to decrease brain swelling,
treat fever and provide supportive care. Medications would include Banamine,
dexamethasone, DMSO and maybe IV fluids and feeding if the horse isn't doing
either on it's own.
Massaoud, the then 22+ yr old stallion who was the victim was the only
horse in the barn sick and the first signs were hindquarter lameness/stiffness,
a swollen scrotum, and lack of interest in food. He got through it and is still
trucking along about 5 years later. He was very sick at the time, no doubt about
it, but he's a tough old bird and came through. Ths is a horse that at age 17
had his picture taken at a local jumping show, sent in to George Morris' column
in Practical Horseman where he usually cuts riders to pieces, and got the
published comment that if the USET horses had the guts and spirit and talent he
did, they'd always get the gold. He's quite a guy.
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo,
Egypt
maryanne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.ratbusters.net
I don't know. If your horses are vaccinated, then
they should be protected, therefore is shouldn't be a waste of money. However,
you are giving your horse a dose of WNV when you vaccinate. But, when the
vaccine came out, the info I read said only about 100 horses had been tested.
That is not a very high number for vaccine testing.
I would check out the websites I listed and see
what else you can find out about some statistics on horses that have
been vaccinated. And of course, talk to your vet. I am only passing on the
information that I got from this seminar.
All we can do is get as much info as possible to
make the best educated decisions. That is all we can do.
Lisa Salas, The Odd Farm
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 9:31
AM
Subject: Re: [RC] [RC] What do we do if
we suspect our horse has WNV?
Even horses who received the vaccination
have gotten seriously ill and or died. Overall though, any horse is at
risk.
Then what's the
point of the shots? I've vaccinated my entire herd with the original
shot and the 4 week booster. Was this just a waste of
money?
Amber
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