Anaphylaxis

[ros]

One of the horses on the yard had an anaphylactic reaction a few days ago - the vet thought it must have been an insect bite of some description. He had a very nasty lump between his back legs, his sheath swelled quite dramatically and he had various pussy lumps here and there. He was quite miserable but is now improving.

His owner says he hasn't had a reaction like this before. I'm starting to feel guilty now because he's only been here since the middle of April and I'm wondering if this farm has some particularly nasty brand of horse fly that doesn't live on any other livery yard anywhere else in Devon! Obviously it's worrying everyone that it might happen again.

I know some humans are allergic to bee or wasp stings, so I suppose horses can be too. Although the owner says he's never been bitten like this before, I don't suppose it's all that odd - I'm 49 and I've only ever been stung twice in my life as far as I can remember; by which I mean that I imagine it's quite possible that although he may have had fly bites before, this was his first from something like a bee or wasp.

Has anyone any experience of such a reaction? Also, is it likely that another attack would be worse than the first, or would it be less severe on subsequent occasions as the body gradually desensitizes? (Or about the same!) All input appreciated.

[FRED]

Hello Ros,I don't think you should feel guilty,but understand your concern about horse.
I have always suspected that its where you get bitten/stung that can make things worse,although there can be cases where animals/people are allergic to bites/stings.

My dear brother,who has always lived on farms,got bitten by some strange insect while on expedition in Nephal,he was very very ill for six months,yet the year before he went to 18,000 ft on Mt Everest{don't ask me why folk do it}so i don't think fitness has anyhting to do with how you react.

[Wally]

Yes, some horses can have the same reaction to some antibiotic injections.

The vet in the case went to get the "antidote" but in the mean time you have to scare the living daylights out of your horse to stimulate his own adrenaline to kick in to counter the shock. It is a horrible thing to do, to have to shout and leap at your already gravely ill horse, but it buys them time till the vet can get something to help them. It's not too common thank fully.

[ros]

Oops, thought I put this in the Health section! Sorry.

Fred, your brother sounds like he makes the most of life! Hope he's OK now.

Thanks Wally, I'll remember the bit about scaring the horse, but I hope I never have to do it! Frank had to have a VERY long course of penicillin not so long ago, and my vet said it was a good job he was penicillin-tolerant as some horses can have the same reaction as some humans.

[Julew]

Hi Ros,
I don't want to scare you further but I think in some cases in humans anyway, reaction to bites or stings actually increases in the individuals that are allergic. It may be the same in horses and I would check with the vet as then you can be prepared.

[Kerry's Partner!!]

Hi Ros,

I agree with Julew (having a 14th month old granddaughter who is allergic to milk and all things "dairy"). My daughter is quite likely to need to carry an "Epipen" (adrenaline injection) everywhere with her soon!!

Remember it's not your fault at all - you didn't pass on the genes!!

[chev]

We had a TB cross colt who had virtually the same reaction - his sheath swelled so much he actually couldn't walk very well, plus numerous odd lumps appeared on his body. We called the vet who injected him with anti-inflammatories and put him on bute for 3 to four days. He also said it was most likely caused by a bite, but as we had just wormed Harry (with equest) thought it could also be a reaction to the wormer. He was fine a week later, and hasn't had any kind of similar reaction to anything since. I sold him to a friend who has had no problems with him either. The episode happened nearly three years ago.

[Lucy J]

once a year my old horse used to look like he had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, his face was swollen, his body was covered in lumps and his breathing used to go really funny.
Never found out what caused it, but a steriod injection used to do the trick.