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What Maryben described regarding pigeon fever is
true if you live in an area where it is endemic (central California). It
can be much more devastating when it hits a population of horses that have never
been exposed. When it hit central Oregon a decade or so ago, I treated
nearly 80 cases in about a 6-week time span, and other veterinarians in the area
likewise treated large numbers of cases. Also, horses that have never been
exposed often don't mount as efficient an immune response, so treatment is often
necessary. It IS true that traditional antibiotics alone often make the
situation worse and/or prolong the problem. However, when the epidemic hit
us in central Oregon, I talked to a doc from central California who had treated
a lot of it, and he gave me a really terrific treatment protocol. At the
time of draining the abcesses, we also gave each horse a big IV dose (250
ml) of sodium iodide (old-timey treatment for cattle with deep-seated
tissue infections, and still used for diseases such as woody tongue)--this stuff
is nasty if it gets out of the vein, so we always used an IV catheter to
administer it. After giving that, we would put the horse on oral SMZ for
10-14 days. We only had a few horses that required a second treatment; the
majority got over it quickly. Horses that went untreated tended to just
have repeated abcesses--when one group of abcesses would seem to heal up, more
would break out.
In our selenium-deficient area, we also found that
horses recovered more quickly if given E-Se at the time of initial
treatment--which makes sense when one realizes that selenium is important in the
ability of white blood cells to "eat" bacteria. (Also, farms with good
selenium supplementation tended not to get cases in the first place, or the few
who did had very mild cases.)
In addition to big abcesses on the chest, it also
sometimes shows up in the sheath or udder (NOT fun to have to drain and flush
those!), and also once in awhile on the ventral midline (along the bottom of the
belly).
Heidi
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 8:12
PM
Subject: Re: [RC] [Guest] Pigeon
Fever
Usually a swelling in the pectoral
region on one side in the front of the chest. It starts out soft, gets
bigger and harder and then develops a soft spot in the middle. That's
when it is lanced. It is horrible and gross and then you just keep the
inside of it cleaned out [I used water and novalsan with a big syringe] and
let it heal from the inside like any abscess.
I have heard that
the junk that comes out of it is highly contagious but am not sure. In
my experience, one horse will have it and his paddock buddy won't.
October is usually when one or more of our horses will get it. We have
had 1-3 cases of it in a year. So far, none this year...I think
they call is "bastard strangles". My vet advises against any medications
such as antibiotics, etc. and my horses have always recovered just fine with
no ill effects so far....mb
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