Do you vaccinate for west nile virus?

dianneS

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Just wondering who vaccinates for west nile virus. There have been a few recorded cases in my county. I don't know if the vet vaccinated for west nile last year, but our new vet wants to do it this year.

Is west nile deadly to horses? I know its not that big of a deal to healthy adults, just children and the elderly are mainly at risk. I've known people who had west nile and it really wasn't that terrible since they were healthy to begin with.
 

goodhors

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We vaccinate for West Nile. The are some cases in MI but I don't have specifics yet. Here is a site on West Nile in horses.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/wnv_horses.htm

I am hoping to take my horses out of the infection cycle by vaccinating them and preventing further transmission of the WN virus.

The virus is in birds everyplace on the North American continent. They have found birds with WNV in northern wilderness areas of Alaska and Canada where there are no humans or horses.

The virus seems to strike hard, sudden and unexpectedly to the mostly, unvaccinated animals. In past years there were a fair amount of deaths in the horses nationwide. No area is "virus free".

Prevenile has been withdrawn from public useage. There were issues with it as a vaccination. Your Vet probably has that information if you ask.

I would recommend getting a horse vaccinated, not a nice disease to try saving them from.

Rabies is another big problem many folks don't vaccinate their horses for. There are horses bitten and infected with Rabies each year in MI, who then have to be put down. Handlers will need to get the series of Rabies preventatives after being exposed to Rabid horse saliva. Everyone says the shot series is NO FUN at all. They quarantined a stable in Lepeer with a rabid horse early this year. You can't save a rabid animal, no cure available.

http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25807_26082---,00.html
 

Royd Wood

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We get our three horses done in Spring as a neighbour lost her mare to west nile 2 years ago. Flies and mosquitos are really bad here in Niagara at the mo and in past years dead birds have been found to be carrying W N in our area
 

patandchickens

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I do. There have been cases around here (anyhow there were a few yrs ago when WNV first arrived, dunno bout recently) and we are in a super mosquito swamp with the horses on 24/7 turnout. My recollection is that mortality is somewhere around 1/3 to 1/2 the cases, and there can be serious complications like laminitis in survivors. I also vacccinate for the equine encephalitis complex every few years, although cases are quite rare around here.

The one thing I personally think ALL horse owners should vaccinate against is tetanus; and for most people in North America I'd add rabies to that list. At least every few years, not *necessarily* yearly.

(Horse rabies cases are fairly rare but DO happen and can result in MUCHO human exposure because it is really hard to know (til it is long since too late to change your handling practices) that it is rabies rather than colic, object stuck in throat, encephalitis, etc.)

JMHO though,

Pat
 

dianneS

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It looks like my horses were vaccinated for west nile virus last year.

I'm looking into vaccinating them myself this year. I think I've found comparable vaccines to what my vet gave last year.

Do you vaccinate your horses yourself? My husband vaccinates humans, so I figure I'll make him do it!
 

goodhors

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We vaccinate the horses ourselves, it saves us a lot of money. We have quantity in horses, 6 at the moment. Buying a 10 dose vial is often equal to a couple doses of single horse vaccines. So even tossing the extra, we have saved on basic expenses.

We do ONE kind of shot a week as we work thru the types we give. We follow the vaccine maker recommendations. So if it is a yearly booster, they get it yearly. Even boostering them, they only get one shot a week. Have seen a lot of poor to bad reactions when giving multiple shots to horses. Sometimes the meds just make them off if given singly! Each horse is individual, and past reactions are not a promise horse will react the same THIS time!

Giving the vaccines ourselves, it is easy to do them weekly, plus no Vet charges.

Yes on West Nile Virus.

We vaccinate each year with a multi-way shot. Tetnus, flu, all the Encep types. I think it is a 7-way shot.

They get a KILLED Strangles vaccine injection. We have not had bad injection site reactions with this, and they ARE protected. The nasal Strangles has failed to protect several friend's horses, one of whom died it was so bad. So I am not trusting the nasal method.

They get Rabies shots.

We do not give Rhino shots or Potomac. Locally the vaccinated horses still get Potomac, because the vaccines are not protecting against the new strains. We consider Potomac vaccine a waste of money, though Vets recommend because "vaccinating will lessen the effect if horse DOES get it." That has not worked for the horses we know, they died anyway, vaccinated did not help.

For the Rhino, we do show, go out with horses, but don't vaccinate for it. Again, it seems the most vaccinated horses are the ones with least resistance. Their germs are almost immune to the helping meds. There are some new strains, almost a Super Rhino germ that has made appearances at the Tracks out East. Horses still getting sick, even vaccinated. They are quarantining when it happens now. We don't haul baby horses around, they are not exposed to outside germs so young. Husband says that horses need to develop some natural immunity as they age. The lesser vaccinated animals do seem to manage the bad Rhino in what we have read. Sometimes the best care is too much.

Rhino shots for the bred mare often cause abortion. Again, doesn't matter if she didn't lose it last year or with the first or second time vaccinated, she can and might lose it with that third shot. Not sure why you NEVER hear this until AFTER you lose your planned-for foal. Then EVERYONE says "Oh yeah, we had that happen with our mare and the Rhino shots too!." In our case we also lost the use of the mare, her uterous would not carry another foal. Horse was older, not suitable for our other uses beyond broodmare. We gave her away to a nice woman who loved her a lot, was a good rider to enjoy the horse's skills. LUCKY horse, they moved to Arizona to retire!

Check with other folks on vaccine makers. Some makers are known to cause problems with their "blend" of meds. So using a different brand works better. We try to stay with the same maker each year for boosters. We booster at the same time yearly. Oddly enough it is REALLY hard to spot the sick horse at gatherings. You don't hear of sick horse problems till way later. Or your horse comes down with stuff. So being vaccinated to cover most of the common illness' is your only defense. Yearly is recommended, so that is what I advise others to do. Horses are not dogs or cattle, react in their own way to vaccine protection.
 

ducks4you

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You should ALWAYS vaccinate your horses for ANY disease that you could get, and West Nile is debiliatating for humans. Remember, too, to get a tetanus booster for yourself very ten years.
 

patandchickens

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You should ALWAYS vaccinate your horses for ANY disease that you could get, and West Nile is debiliatating for humans. Remember, too, to get a tetanus booster for yourself very ten years.
I would suggest modifying this to "for any disease that you can *catch from the horse*". Which is pretty much just rabies.

WNV, the equine encephalitises, and tetanus are not transmitted from horse to human. (Well, in principle the first two could be by a mosquito biting an infected horse then biting you, but realistically speaking that is not how it works -- if the local mosquito pool has WNV or EE in it, both you and your horse are at risk, but not from each *other*)

BTW I do not know of any states that accept owner-administered rabies vaccination as legal, w/r/t rabies vaccination status. I mean, if your dog bites someone and his only rabies vacc has ever been the ones you've given, he is legally an UNvaccinated animal (and thus subject to either a SEVERE LONG quarantine, or euthanasia) anywhere in the US that I know of. This is only an issue for rabies, and if the animal has been vet-vaccinated in the past but it is *boosters* you've done yourself that is a big gray area.

Pat
 

goodhors

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Owner administered Rabies is not accepted for dogs in MI. State Govt. REQUIRES dogs to be vaccinated by a Vet, official paperwork issued to get a County dog Liscense. Only Rabies vaccinated dogs can be liscensed. ALL dogs in the State are SUPPOSED to be liscensed by law. Our County also has folks who come check on local dogs at homes, farms, ask to see your paperwork and will fine you if dog/s is not liscensed. You do get a liscense price break, $10 off each, if dog is neutered.

These above measures are part of the reason Rabies in dogs is so greatly reduced from the past. Dogs back then, were the big Rabies carrier, so their people contact made them dangerous unless vaccinated. PEOPLE died of Rabies then, now it is uncommon with the shots available if you get bitten by an unknown, unvaccinated animal like barn cats, bats or wildlife.
 

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