This message is from: Robin Churchill <rbc...@yahoo.com>
I am a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and I have always vaccinated all my horses for rabies every year with no problems. Horses can and do get rabies and it is a significant problem when a horse contracts rabies because many people can be exposed before it is determined the horse is infected, if it is determined at all. There has never been an actual documented case of rabies transmission from a horse to human but because rabies is essentially a fatal disease no one wants to take a chance and there is a first time for everything. If your horse contracts rabies, there is no treatment, the horse will die. If you or anyone else is exposed and that means exposed to the horses saliva, it doesn't have to actually bite you, then it will be recommended that you undergo post-exposure prophylaxis. Currently if you are not bitten, it consists of 1 injection of rabies immunoglobulin (if you are bitten, the immunoglobulin is injected in the tissue around the bite which patients love) and 4 injections of rabies vaccine given on days 0, 3, 7, and 14 after the exposure. This is very effective, but it is inconvenient and if your health department no longer provides it as ours here does not due to budget cuts, it is very expensive and I mean in thousands of dollars for this treatment if you do not have insurance or your insurance does not cover it. This past year in our county of Florida there were 2 cases of rabid horses and I was involved with one of them. We had to vaccinate 18 people who were exposed to that one horse. In my opinion, that was a total waste of health care resources when it could have all been avoided if the horse had been vaccinated because the rabies vaccine is safe and effective. Also, there was some mumbling about who was responsible for the fact that the horse was not vaccinated since some of the exposed persons incurred bills of $10 - 15,000 for the post-exposure prophylaxis, like they were considering consulting a lawyer. I don't know that that went anywhere, but keep in mind, people tend to be litigious in our country and even if it doesn't go anywhere, it is a significant pain and expense to be sued. The reason we don't have more rabies in humans in the US is because of the requirement for vaccination of dogs and cats, which is not the case in some developing countries. Any vaccine can cause a reaction but almost never is a vaccine going to kill your horse like rabies definitely will if he/she contracts it. I also know a relative of one of my former relatives by marriage who bought a draft mare somewhere around WV and the horse fell ill and ended up dying on the way to Ohio State with rabies. Same deal with the prophylaxis, everyone who came in contact with the horses saliva had to be vaccinated. Robin in Florida where the weather is cooling down somewhat and drying out. Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
