How To Treat Gutteral Pouch With Strangles

Strangles is tricky because about one in 10 otherwise fully recovered horses can become a carrier for the disease.

How to treat gutteral pouch with strangles.

This leads to a horse becoming known as a carrier of strangles. I paid about 600 for strangles blood test which was just above acceptable then guttural pouch wash to get samples to run at vet hospital to see if carrier. Equi strangles bacteria in their guttural pouches i e. After a positive or inconclusive grey area pre movement strangles blood test.

The bacteria that causes strangles streptococcus equi is a major cause of infection in a horse s guttural pouch. This is why you see nasal discharge as a sign of strangles. If a horse s retropharyngeal lymph nodes drain backwards into the guttural pouches the pus can sit there and sometimes create hard lumps called chondroids. Some veterinarians can submit samples from blind guttural pouch washes for testing but to rule out carrier status visualization of the pouches should be done along with pcr as per the recommendations of the acvim.

Three negative consecutive guttural pouch washes should be done 7 days apart for a period of 21 days to confirm negative status. This is caused by a bacterial infection usually secondary to strangles. After an outbreak of strangles on a yard the guttural pouches are two air filled sacs which open into the back of the horses throat. The bacteria strikes the lymph nodes of the horse and these infected lymph nodes can potentially burst open inside a horse s throat allowing the pus to pool in the guttural pouch.

The most common disease of the guttural pouches is called guttural pouch empyema. The fungus has an affinity for growing on the surface of the guttural pouch overlying the nerves and arteries. I could have waited and re run low bloods but clear result needed to move yards pre my surgery. In most cases all of the pus in the abscesses will drain away as the disease takes its course but infection can remain in the guttural pouches in around 10 of strangles cases.

Streptococcus equi is the most common organism involved and the infection may follow a case of strangles. The fungus growing on nerves causes paralysis of affected nerve while the fungal plaques on the arteries will erode. These bacteria cause a large amount of mucus that contains white blood cells bacteria and necrotic. When pus develops in the pouches the condition is known as guttural pouch empyema and often occurs following an infection of the pharynx.