Strangles is a highly contagious bacterial disease causing significant welfare impacts and major disruption to equine facilities. Prevention and rapid control minimize suffering.
Strangles causes significant acute welfare impacts through fever, pain from lymph node abscessation, difficulty swallowing in severe cases, and the distress of quarantine and prolonged treatment. The complications of strangles are serious welfare events with purpura hemorrhagica causing severe vasculitis and bastard strangles causing internal abscessation with high mortality. Outbreaks impose significant disruption through movement restrictions, quarantine of multiple horses, and the extended treatment required for carrier animals. New biosecurity measures including screening of incoming horses significantly reduce outbreak risk.