Strangles - Horse/Human Concerns

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Connie Ballard

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I received this email from our big horse club, Ohio Horsemen's Council and I wanted to share the information...it relates to Strangles and possible concerns for humans caring for horses with Strangles. We've all been told to keep feed pans, buckets, care items...separate so not to pass Strangles to another horse....but we, humans, need to be careful working around strangles too:

Many of our members are familiar with our new treasurer, Denise Mealy. Denise is a graphic artist and operates her own business. She has revamped our club budget, prepares beautiful financial statements and submits regular reports. Detailed below is a disturbing story involving her husband, Paul. We are truly blessed to have each of them as a part of our club.

Gram Positive Beta Streptococci - Group C

Possible human contraction from an ill horse

My husband, a very healthy 58 year old, who rarely gets sick, became very ill, with flu-like symptoms. He ran a fever averaging 101 - 102 degrees, had severe chills and body aches. After three days of continued symptoms, he suddenly went into Atrial Fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm). Upon admission into the hospital and many tests (i.e., blood work, x-rays), the culturing of his blood samples confirmed his diagnosis of Sepsis (a severe illness in which the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria). Specifically, he had Gram Positive Beta Streptococci - Group C in his bloodstream. The layman’s term for this is “blood poisoning.”

The complications multiplied, including an additional diagnosis of pneumonia. He continued having headaches, a persistent fever and low and high blood pressure readings. It was a very frightening illness. The doctor informed us that this was one of the most resistant forms of bacteria to antibiotics and he may lose his life from this. When the fever quickly returned, we were very concerned that the antibiotic wasn’t working. He was put on Rocephin (antibiotic) and although, the cultures showed there was no further growth, the fever indicated something was still wrong.

Frantically, I began searching the Internet to learn more about his diagnosis and research the possible causes of his illness. Everything kept pointing to “Strangles” in horses. Coincidentally, our colt had mild cold symptoms and some of the other horses had similar, if not worse, symptoms for the past 2 - 3 weeks. I called our veterinarian to ask if it was possible that our horses had Strangles. She said, “if so, it would have been a very mild case of Strangles and they were treated with antibiotics that would combat Strangles.” After printing out about 30 pages of information, I spoke with my husband’s Infectious Disease Specialist, who confirmed that his illness may have been contracted from an ill horse. Both, the veterinarian and the Infectious Disease Specialist said they’d have to do blood work on the horses to determine if it were in fact related. It was probably too late for this.

I learned that this bacteria, Streptococci Group C (and G) are known to most commonly live on animals such as horses and cattle and can be spread to humans through close contact. This bacteria does not survive very long away from the body or skin of the horse. What is was very interesting, is the fact that there is little known about Strep Group C and are much less common because the diseases are not often recognized.

What other infection can Streptococci C cause? Pharyngitis. Ironically, my sister, who cares for the horses on a daily basis, came down with laryngitis and her son also came down with a cold within a week or two after my husband was hospitalized. Some of the deeper infections of Strep C cause pneumonia, septic shock (extremely low blood pressure) and bacteria in the blood stream, all infections and complications my husband suffered.

After 14 days in the hospital, doubling the intravenous dosage of Rocephin and inserting a chest tube into his lungs to drain the fluid, my husband’s fever went down and he was released to go home. He is currently recuperating at home for another two weeks (at least) before he returns to work.

My husband and I, both, now believe that when you care for horses, especially those who may be ill, you should take serious precautions to avoid spreading bacteria and illnesses. We will be washing our hands, using gloves and/or masks, and sterilizing buckets, tack and the barn on a regular basis.

Submitted by:

Denise L. Mealy

5445 S. St. Rt. 202

Tipp City, OH 45371

Home Phone: (937)-669-5003

Paul’s Cell Phone: 937-877-0886

Denise’s Cell Phone: 937-877-0909

(Permission to publish in Equine Journal is granted by Paul and Denise Mealy)
 
Wow, thank you for this information
 
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That is interesting.

You know, several years ago when we had strangles (we assumed it to be strangles anyway, we didn't have abcesses, but that's not unusual with strangles. One horse did get a big swelling in his throat but then it seemed to burst inside, and drained through his nose--I don't know of anything else that will cause that kind of nasal discharge. It was absolutely disgusting. That was early spring, and just a little prior to that we'd had very sick cats--they all came down with some sort of respiratory infection, and I've never seen anything like it before or since. The cats were so stuffed up, and they were wheezing and coughing--we've never had coughing cats before, normally with a respiratory infection they will get stuffed up & sneeze, but this was major coughing, and it lingered on & on--very hard to clear up. We joked at the time that we had feline SARS, and then equine SARS--it did seem strange to us that we'd have cats and horses all sicker than we'd ever seen all at about the same time. I asked the vet if there was anything that could affect both and she said no, it's very unlikely--but only because she didn't know of anything that could affect both that way. I've always wondered, and still think that perhaps there was some relation. Fortunately at that time we didn't get sick ourselves.
 
There are a lot of illnesses that can be spread from horses, dogs, cats and ruminants to humans. Some rare, others not so much. Since I have been ill, our ID Doc spent great time evaluating these illnesses. The horses are helthy, but I am not. MRSA, Staph, Strep, bruecellosis certain strains of hepatitis. It is really amazing.

The ID Doctor told us that all horse handlers should wash daily with Hibiclens mixed with your body wash and shampoo. Just be extra careful and take extreme precaution!
 

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