Thoughts and jingles - Potomac Horse Fever?

[FlashGordon]

BO called a bit ago and her 14 y/o QH gelding is running a temp of 103.5. He's still eating and drinking but not acting like himself, obviously. Everyone else in the barn seems ok.

She called the vet, who is headed out, and apparently worried about Potomac Horse Fever as she has seen 2 other cases at local barns.

I don't know much about PHF, anyone have any info? Insect-borne disease, correct? Of course now I am googling but lord knows the last thing I need is more paranoia thanks to google.....

He is a good boy and the BOs are wonderful people who have had this horse since he was 2. I know they are very worried about him!

[deltawave]

It is now felt to be carried and transmitted in a cycle that includes snails and mayflies, so proximity to water is felt to be a risk for infection. It is not, I don't think, transmitted from horse to horse.

My vet was just out this week and he's seen 8 cases in the last month. :eek: So I got my horses boosted--we live very close to two small creeks, which are normally mostly dry this time of year but with our wet summer they're both full and running. Thank heaven we don't see many mayflies, but that doesn't mean they're not around.

Vaccination is not 100% effective, but vaccinated horses, if they become sick, usually have much milder cases of the disease.

The Equine Times, a local (MI, OH, IN) publication that I get in the mail, just had a pretty good review article on it--not sure if it's on line or not. No doubt there are lots of other resources available, though.

Jingles for the sick one at your barn!

[luckeys71]

Potomac horse fever can be very serious. It is not horse to horse contagious. Is your horse vaccinated? Apparently, they may still get it if vaccinated, but usually not as bad. At my barn last year, a horse came in not eating/feeling well. with swollen back legs, and a very high fever. Vet said PHF, but did not test for it. Started the horse on IV antibiotics. The horse never got any diarrhea and improved within 12 hours. The horse did get laminitis (pretty mild) a few days later. She had not a full series of shots. No way to know if she truly had PHF or if laminitis was related to that issue. A few days later, my horse had very swollen back legs. No other symptoms. Eating/acting fine, no fever. I freaked and immediately got on the phone (after hours) with my vet and told him all that had gone on. He was considerably less concerned and did not buy that it was PHF. He said it was probably the remnants of some virus she had otherwise succesfully fought off. He prescribed cold hosing, Banamine twice a day for a couple days, and wrapping, and to call in the morning if she wasn't greatly improved. She was and I had NO vet bill! A day or two later, I noticed another horse in her pasture with swollen back legs (not nearly as bad as her's had been) and no further symptoms. Her owner just did hosing and bute and that horse was fine. The original vet says both our horses had PHF, too. Interesting as she never even SAW either of them. My vet said he'd never seen a PHF horse that wasn't extremely sick, but he knew of other vets who immediately went the IV antibiotics route at the first possibility.

[Carol Ames]

It is neither fly or tick borne:no: as we all expected; The Horse.com had an excellent article a few years ago; apparently when the weather warms water to a certain temp; dung beetles drop a dung ball containing thehrlicia ( sp.)The best treatment is to catch it very :yes:early; take temps daily; watch for signs of impaction. It is "infectious, but, not contagious', etc. was; ie., one horse does not pass it on to another.limiting access to water "holes where beetles and snails are likely to be found was recommended; check with the Horse.comI've been "following the research on this disease since I returned to the area in '84:eek: and the Horse.coms' article is the bestI've seen.:yes:

[Carol Ames]

http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-news/2009/05/04/potomac-horse-fever-vaccine.aspx?NewsLetterId=101879&Email=carolames%40verizon.net&City=Chantilly&StateProvince=VA&PostalCode=


http://www.horsechannel.com/images/horse-news-article-images/field-o-horse_200.jpgWith summer just around the corner, now is the time to vaccinate (http://www.horsechannel.com/horse-health/vaccination-strategies-25594.aspx) horses against Potomac horse fever (PHF).
“Horse owners need to be aware of the disease and its seasonality,” says Dr. Julia Wilson, DVM, associate professor, large animal medicine, University of Minnesota.
PHF is a potentially deadly disease that can cause mild depression, anorexia, diarrhea and abortion in pregnant mares. Some horses also may develop severe toxemia, and up to 40 percent of horses with PHF will develop laminitis.
PHF is caused by aquatic insects, such as caddisflies and mayflies that are infected with the agent of disease, Neorickettsia risticii, and is traditionally seen in the summer and early fall during the insects’ peak hatching times. Horses can ingest infected aquatic insects while grazing near waterways.
Caddisflies, mayflies and other carriers also swarm around b

[Carol Ames]

When I happened to be outside recently I said "It's Potomac Fever:eek: weather" sadly:cry:, I was correct:(;).

[Highflyer]

The important thing is treat with tetracycline & banamine right away. The sooner you can treat, the better the odds of the horse fully recovering are. Jingling for you.

[pintopiaffe]

Sooo... then do folks need to be thinking about it in areas where it's not been seen before? Because of the weather?

Or is it more geographically based?

(an example, I've no idea what a caddisfly is, and we don't have Mayflies that I know of?? )

[Woodland]

16 years ago my Sister's well vaccinated exceedingly well cared for mare contracted PHF. It took weeks for the ravages to finally kill her. It all started with her just not being herself. then going off of her feed, to running a high fever. Eventually she went to a major equine hospital where she finally succumbed to the secondary disease founder. The Founder was brought on by the high fever cause nearly full rotation and euthanasia. $6,000+ in vet care could not save her.

A neighbor's mare got it - was treated at home and also was euthanised from the severe rotation from founder - she was also vaccinated.

A friend's mare contracted it. She called me with symptoms I said get her to U of I ASAP she has PHF. This mare is a multiple World Champion exceedingly well cared for well vaccinated too. She survived but the resulting rotation from the subsequent founder from the fever ended her riding career. She has been an expensive pet ever since.

Moral of these mare's stories? It's not the PHF - it's the damn founder from the fever!!! My Sister's mare stood in cold wet sand here at home - it saved her feet. However she had to go to the hospital - the best they could offer her was very deep bedding. Within 4 days there the "fever" in her feet caused her death. Protect from founder and they might save the horse. It's all I got. Vaccinations did not prevent PHFand great husbandry did not protect two of the three horses in my story. I still believe in the vaccine. It is a dreadful dreadful dreadful disease!

Here are all my jingles!!

[grayarabpony]

I agree with Woodland -- I would start cooling the feet and allowing the horse to move around or handgraze/ walk. Poor horse, I hope it's not PHF!

[deltawave]

According to my vet the laminitis associated with PHF is about the worst in terms of aggressiveness, difficulty to manage, and amount of destruction in short periods of time. :no:

[FlashGordon]

Thanks everyone for the information and articles. I've never before worried about PHF but perhaps will booster. Seems it is making an appearance in the area.

Yes laminitis was very much on my brain. :(

Just talked to her again and the fever broke in the middle of the night. He seems better this AM. Her vet was not quite as aggressive with treatment as I would have demanded but hey, not my horse nor my vet.

We are keeping a close eye on everyone of course. It is a very closed herd though so the chances of it being something viral are slim, though it certainly could be the case. My own horse has had nothing blatantly wrong the last few weeks but has just seemed a bit off to me, so needless to say my own vet is coming ASAP to give a once over and pull some blood.

Thanks again for all the info, very much appreciated.

[Skeezix]

The only other thing I can add to the above, is not leaving on lights at night. They attract the mayflies who die end up in the hay/water and into horse.

It is nasty stuff. We had a pony with it, foundered, but managed to pull through. Took her a year to recover, but she is still on very careful management because the founder was bad.

Jingles for Win's barnmate :(

[spotmenow]

Don't rule out Lyme disease. We had a horse here spike a fever of 105 with no other symptoms except that he didn't want grain (was still eating hay and grass, though) - vet immediately came out and started treating for Potomac. The horse's fever broke with only one dose of banamine, but he was treated with oxytet for 5 days IV.

Well, it was NOT Potomac; bloodwork came back clean. Since the horse was completely fine and the dire fever was the only symptom, it was written off as a freak thing. A few weeks later the owner had a second opinion and guess what it was: Lyme Disease. Strongly positive. Never took a lame or sore step. So, keep it in mind with those high fevers.

[FlashGordon]

Thanks everyone for the good vibes they seem to be working. Horse is stable and perky today. We are temping all 6 horses regularly but so far no issues, though one mare had a bit of diarrhea this afternoon.

So hopefully all will be just fine.

[dwblover]

My mare got it a few years ago. She would not eat (SHOCKING for that horse, she was a pig!) She was tired and lethargic. We checked her temp, it was very, very high. Luckily vet boarded at our barn so we started antibiotics immediately upon onset of symtpoms. I also had access to a nice cold stream where she and I stood for quite some time to prevent inflammation of the laminae. Cold, wet mud or sand is great too. She fully recovered within two weeks and we won our next horse trial, so here's jingling for a similar outcome for your friend's horse. Oh, and she was vaccinated for PHF, which I do believe helped her have milder symptoms. No other horses in the barn ever got sick.

[starkissed]

knew a horse that had it this spring. It was so bizzare and we were in the barn ALL night. It would look colicky, then seem ok, then start shivering/shaking, then be hot and sweaty. Did have a temp off and on and its heart rate stayed ok.
We pretty much gave it everything. But watch out of rlaminitis if they are stressed like that. We put this horse on lilly pads, iced the feet and gave it equioxx and stuff like that for the laminitis.
I think they live for the most part. What state are you in, I'm in PA where it happened and this horse lived on a floodplain

[Carol Ames]

Get your horse to an equine vet hospital :eek:asap; they need IV fluids and antibiotics before the diarrhea breaks; If they are diagnosed with it the hospital is the best place for them:yes:

[FlashGordon]

Get your horse to an equine vet hospital :eek:asap; they need IV fluids and antibiotics before the diarrhea breaks; If they are diagnosed with it the hospital is the best place for them:yes:

My horse is not the one with the diarrhea. Another mare in the barn had a short episode of diarrhea yesterday but supposedly it has resolved. We had a series of horrific storms the last 36 hours so by and large it may have just been nerves. She has not run a fever and is not off feed.

The original horse with the fever was not mine either, but the BO's. Vet did treat but not as aggressively as I would have liked if it WERE my horse.

Knock on wood my horse seems to be fine though I am in consultation with my own vet.

FWIW, we are in NY and the property is relatively swampy. Then again most everything is swampy this year with all the rain we've had.

[BuddyRoo]

Jingles for the affected horse(s).

My mare had PHF about 2 years ago. I was terrified because my good friend (and BO) had lost her horse to Potomac a few years prior.

Luckily, we caught it so quickly with my mare that she never went off feed or had any other symptoms/complications other than the high fever.

I literally got a phone call at 1pm saying she was standing out in the pasture and not eating (not normal for miss piggy), she was temped at 101. Within 3 hours, the vet was there and we were doing banamine and antibiotics. At that point, her temp was 104.5. Got her temp down and kept it there with banamine for several days. She made a full recovery though she does not grow a winter coat anymore. (I don't know if that's correlated or not...)

The vaccine doesn't cover all the strains and my mare was vaccinated (and has been for several years). There is some indication that horses may be less affected even by other strains if they've been vaccinated.

Best wishes.

[NMK]

I believe there are up to 14 different "strands" of Potomac, but with the vaccinaton the severity could be less for any of them. Early diagnosis and treatment seems to be key. Just because you have vaccinated does not mean you are safe. I know first hand.

Nancy

[Cataluna]

I want to chime in here not only to give jingles, but to share my experience.

6 years ago, we had a very wet summer, not so unlike what we're having this year. I had very recently (2 days prior) started my mare on a new supplement when she suddenly stopped eating her grain, but I chalked it up to the change in her feed. It smelled different, and she was a bit of a picky eater anyways. She was still eating her hay, grazing and drinking normally. Then she was unusually lazy under saddle that afternoon, and very slightly lethargic in the cross-ties, but it was pretty hot that day compared to the weather we had been having up until that point, so again, I didn't think a lot of it.

She wasn't interested in her dinner that night in the slightest. She didn't even come over to check it out. This was extremely unusual, and I called the vet with a heads up, and asked if she could stop by in the morning to check things out.

When I went out the next AM, there was diarrhea everywhere, and my horse was a mess. She was standing in the corner, with her head down, and was pretty much unresponsive. I made an emergency call, and my vet (bless her heart) was there within 15-20 min. We had to stomach tube her, gave her a bottle of gastroid and a whole bucket of water/electrolytes. Banamine, tetracycline as well as an IV. My vet all but told me to say my good-byes at this point, and I was pretty devastated. I iced her feet 3x a day, kept her pain check, kept her in the shade, and pretty much had to play the waiting game. She made it, and much to my gigantic relief didn't founder, but she did lose almost 200 pounds within 5 days. It took me 3 months of careful hand-grazing and conditioning to be able ride her again, and a full year before she started looking like herself again. To this day, she's a hard keeper and has a nice stack of fluffy warm blankets for the winter. Her winter coat has never completely grown in since then.

Basically, if your horse isn't acting normal, even if it's not something major, call the vet. When in doubt, call the vet. I could have very very easily lost her that week, and it was not worth making excuses for the very subtle changes in her personality. I was only 16 when this all happened, but it was a huuuuuuge lesson learned!

PHF is a wicked disease.. huge huge jingles for the horse in the OPs post.

[FlashGordon]

Basically, if your horse isn't acting normal, even if it's not something major, call the vet. When in doubt, call the vet. I could have very very easily lost her that week, and it was not worth making excuses for the very subtle changes in her personality. I was only 16 when this all happened, but it was a huuuuuuge lesson learned!


First, Cataluna, how incredibly scary... and how amazing that you were able to pull her through! What a lucky girl.

And I agree completely about instinct. I think I tend to verge on paranoia, but sometimes that gut instinct is to be heeded!!! And 9 times out of 10, people tell me I am being a nutter and over-thinking things.... and then my instinct ends up being right. So I call the vet and the farrier now whenever I start to get that weird vibe.

The thing is, thankfully, a lot of recreational horse people just haven't seen things go really awry with horses. They also don't know what questions to ask or what proactive role they can take. So they take kind of a laid-back attitude about it, which is understandable. But if you stay in this long enough, hang around enough barns, and you learn that things can go very wrong, very fast. :( I'm learning everyday that you have to ask questions, educate yourself, and not take every vet/pro/farrier's word as gospel.

I will say I wish we had a clinic nearer. The closest one is 1.5 hours and they are non-surgical if I am correct... at least, non-surgical when it comes to emergency. Cornell is a great option but not for immediate needs as it is 2.5-3 hours.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm headed to the barn in a bit. It is hotter than hell here today so I suspect everyone is in and standing in front of their fans. Not gotten any updates yet today so I assume everything is quiet.

I think I will be checking temps, resps and gums regularly tho for the next few weeks.

[Maryanne Nicpon]

We are in upstate NY and we absolutely have a PHF problem here. Springs tend to be very wet and this year our summer has also been wet. This allows the snail fluke larvae which carry the bacteria to cover a larger area. Everyone at my barn (18 horses) is vaccinated in the spring and fall. Still we seem to have 1-3 cases per year here. The first symptom that I have observed (in 100% of the cases) is that the horse will go off his/her feed. This seems to happen even before a fever. If a horse refuses to eat, we start monitoring the temp every eight hours or so. At the first spike, the vet is called. We use a full dose of Banamine paste twice per day and if the temp stays down, decrease it to a half dose twice a day (apparently is helps the horse with the toxins from the dying bacteria ?). The vet will start IV oxytetracyline for five consecutive days. Usually, by day 3 or 4 the horse is showing signs of definite improvement. We had a broodmare come down with it last month. It took her a little longer to bounce back than I have seen, but she is fine now. Unfortunately, between nursing and being off her feed for a few days, she did lose weight.

It is important to keep the horse drinking or have the vet hydrate him/her. Two years ago, there was so much of it in our area that the vets were running ragged going from farm to farm to treat. One of the "B-team" from my vet's practice was in a rush and started a yearling on oxytet with barely an exam. He had a neurologic reaction, and had to be euthanized the next day... total negligence and a horrible tragedy.

Good luck. I hope your horse is on his way to recovery by now.

[Woodland]

Any updates?