What to do when a horse has strangles in your yard

  • Take immediate action!
  • Stop all horses moving on or off the yard.
  • Use isolation as a precaution for all horses while you speak to your vet and arrange for testing.
  • Use the ‘traffic light’ system to segregate horses into groups and minimise the risk to other horses on the yard and the surrounding area.
  • Spot the clinical signs of strangles and take temperature of each horse at least twice a day.
  • After outbreak, disinfect stables, paddocks and equipment to make them free of infection.
  • Look for carriers to prevent persistent infection and new outbreaks.

Hould affected horses receive medical treatment?

Treatment of acute cases

A proportion of infected horses will recover without treatment, but the recovery period is relatively long and usually takes 3 to 6 weeks if no complications occur.

Early treatment of exposed horses with antibiotics (penicillin) may prevent abscess formation.

However:
  • Lymph node abscesses quickly become so large that antibiotics cannot penetrate to sufficient levels
  • Treatment may be required for several weeks and the infection could still flare up again when treatment stops.
  • Antibiotic resistance is emerging (12.5% of UK isolates).
  • Antibiotic treatment may interfere with natural immunity.

Severe cases require emergency treatment with antibiotics, corticosteroids and/or surgical intervention (tracheostomy).

Treatment of carriers

  • Physical removal of chondroids
  • Procaine benzylpenicillin administered into guttural pouches
  • Systemic antibiotics for 2 weeks
  • Repeat endoscopy and lavage to confirm infection free status