Deadly fungus on Chincoteague

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StraightForward
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Deadly fungus on Chincoteague

Postby StraightForward » Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:52 am

This sounds absolutely awful, and scary that it is creeping north! :shock:

On an island famous for wild ponies, a dangerous infection is killing horses

The unexpected malady is pythiosis, an infection typically caused when a horse steps in water carrying a fungus-like organism known as Pythium insidiosum. Pathogens can enter small cuts or abrasions and, in some horses, create itchy, swelling lesions that will eventually become tumor-like growths. Untreated, the infection is invariably fatal.

The disease, sometimes known as swamp cancer, strikes mostly horses and dogs and has long been known in subtropical areas, including Florida. But cases are becoming more common in higher latitudes in recent years, with some reported as far north as Minnesota.

“It’s an emerging disease,” said Richard Hansen, a research veterinarian in Oklahoma working on a vaccine and new treatments for pythiosis. “It seems to be moving north with the changing climate.”
Keep calm and canter on.

Koolkat
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Re: Deadly fungus on Chincoteague

Postby Koolkat » Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:17 am


heddylamar
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Re: Deadly fungus on Chincoteague

Postby heddylamar » Mon Dec 31, 2018 12:20 pm

Repeating my reply to Koolkat's thread:

I've been following this in WaPo. I wish they were heavier on the details (swamp cancer?) and lighter on the hyperbole so we could get a better sense of what this disease/infection looks like.

It's particularly worrisome right now because Maryland is in the midst of a wet season. There has been so much rain the past 1-2 months that our normally dry pastures are ankle deep mud and standing water. There's never standing water, even after a hurricane.

What sort of nasty bug is lurking in all that wet?

ETA: this article (there've been 2-4) has far more details ... but I wish they had included descriptions and detailed photos ;)

khall
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Re: Deadly fungus on Chincoteague

Postby khall » Mon Dec 31, 2018 1:50 pm

Just google swamp cancer or pythiosis, there is lots of information out there on this disease. Initially when Rip and the other horses here started with their problems in 2015 my vet thought pythium was considered to be the culprit, but that has since been determined to not be the case. My horses were vaccinated though (there is a vaccine for pythium, used to treat pythiosis in horses, not so successful in dogs) and 2 of the ones vaccinated did respond positively, vet thinks it was just because both issues are fungal related. Rip of course did not respond and we had to explore more avenues. Now it has been determined that what my horses were experiencing was equine nasopharyngeal cicatrix syndrome (NCS) which is also thought to be fungal related but rather than having actual infection by the fungus it is an allergic response to the fungus and possibly to the mycotoxins emitted by the fungus. Found in Texas and OK and some in the panhandle of FL, so far I am the only one to be found in middle Georgia (yeah me).

On a friends FB page, one of her posters/friends had lost a mare to pythiosis in the airway. That is unusual. Both pythiosis and NCS are considered to be emerging diseases, being found in more areas (NCS has now been found in Aiken too) due to global warming. One limiting factor for NCS though is it is found only in Bermuda pastures, so found only where Bermuda grows. Pythium though is found in water. Both have been known about for many years, NCS has no vaccine because the actual fungus has not been determined. Pythiosis (which looks similar to a summer sore) can be cultured or seen in the tissue of the lesions. In horses it is most often a skin lesion (why I was skeptical of the airway pythiosis) though can be intestinal (much rarer) usually found in dogs intestinally requiring surgery but can also be found as skin lesions. Difficult to treat. NCS can be treated if caught before scarring occurs (scarring in the upper airway can be bad enough to require a trach and sometimes euthanasia) by throat spray DMSO, dex and furacin given orally. This is what Rip will be on for life and why I probably won't ever show him recognized. Pred is also used for flare ups when they occur. Pred is where we found the best response in Rip when he was having a bad flare in 2017.

There are other fungal issues that can be found in the airway. In researching NCS I found all kinds of issues that I had no idea were a problem. As we are seeing more wet years and warmer weather we will see more fungal issues. NCS seems to be worse when an area has drought conditions followed by wet year, which is exactly when my horses started their problems. Pythium is found in wet areas, can only enter broken skin or be swallowed causing the intestinal issues.

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StraightForward
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Re: Deadly fungus on Chincoteague

Postby StraightForward » Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:23 pm

Koolkat wrote:http://definitelydressage.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3065


Weird that thread didn't show up when I clicked on new posts. Sorry for the duplicate!
Keep calm and canter on.


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