Strangles is one of the most common equine infectious diseases worldwide, causing abscesses in lymph nodes that cause pain and can lead to life-threatening complications.
Horses with strangles experience painful swelling of lymph nodes around the throat and jaw that makes swallowing difficult and can compromise breathing. The weeks-long process of abscess formation and rupture is uncomfortable and requires intensive management. Bastard strangles, where abscesses form internally, causes severe systemic illness. The quarantine required for strangles outbreaks disrupts normal social and exercise routines for entire facilities, affecting many horses beyond those directly infected.