What is a farm horse wash
Among the bacterial diseases of equids, farmers especially highlight myt streptococcus. This disease affects the nasopharyngeal mucosa and causes fever in animals. Horse washing is usually acute and causes a lot of trouble for stallion owners.
Washed by the horse
Infected horses are isolated from the herd and are unable to perform work functions for a long time. The pathology of the disease causes great damage to agriculture due to the speed of spread, however, in our time, washes in horses are treatable and rarely fatal.
Description of the disease
The first mentions of washing in horses were recorded in the 17th century, although for a long time experts could not distinguish this infection from glanders. Excitatory bacteria were discovered only at the end of the 19th century.
At that time, the disease infected a large number of horses in different countries and posed a serious threat to farms. In the herd that was infected, almost 80% of the horses became infected. In the modern world, the disease does not pose a serious threat to equids, since there are effective methods of treatment and prevention of the disease.
Causative agent of infection
The cause of the disease is the bacteria Streptococcus equi, which have the following structural features:
- spherical shape;
- color of molecules under Gram;
- absence of spores in capsules;
- inability to move in space on their own;
- chain strokes.
Myta bacteria are able to coexist with other viral pathogens. Mytny streptococcus is manifested when the conditions of detention are violated or the horse's immune system is lowered.
Reasons for the appearance and habitat
First of all, horses under 5 years old suffer from myt.
Foals have immature immunity, which increases the risk of infection. As a rule, adults rarely get sick with this disease. The infection does not pose a threat to humans.
The bacteria enter the air through the respiratory tract of the sick stallion. The virus quickly infects the animal's feeder and drinker, and also gets on the bedding, stall and manure. Bacteria can be transmitted through food, however, more often this occurs due to the contact of a sick individual with a healthy one.
The virus is able to live for some time outside a living organism:
- In manure and litter, the virus can exist for more than a month.
- Bacteria live in soil layers for nine months.
- In purulent discharge, the disease persists for about a year.
In large farms, the disease can quickly affect the entire herd, if appropriate measures are not taken in time. Autumn is considered a favorable period for myt.
The first cold snaps and changes in feed increase the risk of contracting this disease. A sick horse gains increased immunity to infection, but for some time it continues to be a carrier of bacteria.
Disease detection methods
The diagnosis of myt can be carried out both in the laboratory and by external signs. The defining symptoms include massive infections in foals, fever, and congested airways.
Horse washes can also be detected by dissecting a dead equid. When establishing a diagnosis, the most important thing is to determine specifically this disease, since the symptoms of myt are similar to diseases such as pneumonia, glanders and other ailments that affect the nasopharynx.
Manifestation of myt in horses
Streptococcus bacteria enter the horse's body by airborne droplets and settle on the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract. Next, the infection through the circulatory system affects the horse's lymph nodes. The incubation period at myt lasts 14 days. During this period of time, bacteria actively multiply in the horse's body, continuing to invade the lymphatic system, the nasopharyngeal mucosa. During illness, inflammatory processes are attacked by leukocytes, which causes purulent discharge from the horse's nose to flow.
In the normal form of the disease, washing domestic horses can cause fever, in which the animal's temperature can reach 40 ° C. In stallions, the state of health immediately deteriorates, a cough, snorting appears, and the amount of discharge from the nose and mouth increases. The lymph node is markedly enlarged during tactile examination. On the second day after the increase in temperature, the swelling of the airways increases, blocking the horse's throat. By the fifth day, the edema matures, after which purulent discharge appears. Usually, after opening the abscesses, the horse's well-being improves, the appetite reappears and the temperature returns to normal.
There are other forms of the course of the disease, in addition to acute:
- Abortive. With this form, the disease proceeds calmly, the runny nose in the animal passes after a few days, there are no purulent discharge. Usually, this form of character illness is for adults who have already been ill with myt and have immunity.
- Atypical. This form is characterized by inflammation of the upper part of the nasopharynx and pneumonia.
- Metastatic. In this form, ulcers form subcutaneously and can open up inside muscles and joints. Also, discharge can be found in the digestive system. This form is one of the most dangerous, since sepsis begins due to contamination of internal organs and the animal may die.
Features of drug treatment
If you suspect being washed, the sick individual should be immediately separated from the healthy ones and the horse should be given special care. The infected horse is placed in a special stall. The stall of a sick stallion should be warm and clean, without temperature fluctuations. The daily diet must be balanced: the infected animal is fed with high-quality hay or fresh grass. The horse should always have a full drinker: at temperature, the animal body loses a large amount of moisture. Before consumption, the water should be boiled and cooled to room temperature. It is also required to exclude cold air, drafts or frozen foods. They can cause aggravation of the horse's condition.
The horse's nasopharynx should be flushed and inhaled. To do this, use solutions such as:
- potassium permanganate;
- furacilin;
- baking soda.
The liquid must be warm. The horse's airway should be flushed twice a day.
When washing horses, the most important thing is to remove purulent discharge from the body in time and bring down the high temperature. For this, warm bandages are applied to the places of subcutaneous edema. At elevated temperatures, the process of maturation of abscesses occurs faster. After opening the abscess, the oral cavity of the animal should be treated with medications such as:
- hydrogen peroxide;
- potassium permanganate;
- synthomycin ointment;
- liniment by Vishnevsky.
In some cases, for the rapid maturation of abscesses, Dorogov's antiseptic in a twenty percent concentration is injected into the abscess.
If the inflammation process is prolonged, treatment continues with penicillin-based antibiotics. However, such medications injure the internal organs of the animal, therefore, the horse should be provided with a high-calorie diet. Sulfanilamide drugs can also be added to the feed.
Preventive actions against myt
In the modern world, no effective medicine has yet been found that can save the herd from disease. It is known that in recovered horses, the immune system is strengthened, and the risk of getting sick again is extremely small. Also, animals that are more than five years old rarely get sick with myna, since their immunity fights various streptococci throughout their lives.
Preventive treatment is primarily aimed at improving the conditions in horses:
- The box of animals should be warm and dry.
- Stables should be built airtight with proper ventilation.
- The stall must be cleaned at least once a day.
- Complete disinfection of the stable should be carried out monthly.
- Horses are required to undergo compulsory vaccination against other respiratory diseases.
- The new stallion should be kept apart for some time to identify possible pathologies.
If a farm horse was diagnosed in agriculture, then restrictions are imposed on the animals of this farm for the entire period of treatment. It is forbidden to sell horses that are sick with washing or keep them in a common herd. Sick animals are quarantined, but the oral cavity of healthy horses is also treated with various solutions for prophylaxis.
Manure from infected horses is thrown into a separate pit and is not used for agricultural needs. This restriction is removed from the farm 2 weeks after the last sick horse recovers.