Questions about strangles

So Trouble the TB horse I bought about a month and a half ago it was recently discovered to have strangles unfortunately I didn't know he had that and he has been with my yearling colt Jet the whole time. He has a cyst under his chin unruptured that appeared three weeks ago he hasn't been feeling sickly and he has little to no nasal drainage and what drainage he gets is clear. Jet isn't showing any symptoms yet not sure what to expect as far as he goes I'm not sure how long it takes symtoms to occur. Vet said Troubles about done with the disease but to keep an eye on jet. Basically I was just wanted to know what to expect and any advice you could give is appreciated as in all my years with horses I've never had this to contend with. They are no where near any horses I have them quarantined at the moment. Thanks!
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Strangles can behave very strangely. Have you given either horse any antibiotics like Penicillin? That can really alter and prolong any symptoms.

The only sure way to know if a horse is still carrying and can still shed the Strep bacteria that causes Strangles is to do a nasal swab and culture it. You can also have a Vet pull a CBC blood test and any horse still carrying Strangles with have an elevated white count.

There have been nonappearant carriers that shed the bacteria several moths after having a case of it or having been exposed to a horse with it. They have infected many horses before it was figured out that they were the seemingly healthy common denominator that had been in with every other horse that got sick.

Well Trouble was given penicillin for 3 days after his getting gelded since his wound was infected. At the time I didn't know he had strangles. Jet the yearling has had no antibiotics and has swollen lymph nodes today but is eating and running around. Troubles abcess looks like it will rupture anytime.
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I would give no more antibiotics of any kind and carefully watch them. I would also monitor their temperatures. That tells you more about what is going on. Hopefully both will break under their jaws. If you get a horse that is VERY sick and shows distress like difficulty breathing, very high fever, not drinking (will get dehydrated very quickly in this weather) you need to treat it as a medical emergency with IV fluids.


Strangles either needs to be left untreated to take its own course or treated VERY aggressively. If a horse gets very sick and needs to be treated aggressively in order to survive, then you cannot quit the antibiotics until the horse's white count is down to normal and all internal abscesses have resolved. I have given daily injected antibiotics for as long as 60 days straight, but saved the horses and they had no permanent damage like breathing problems.

Neither horse has had a fever recently that I've caght except for trouble who had a fever after gelding infection I wish I would of know he was immuno-compromised at the time I wouldn't have gelded him. But anyways both are eating drinking being normal but I check them very closely for changes several times a day. Would your recomend a particular disinfectant to clean surfaces and tack that thy have come in contact with I don't want to infect my other two horses who are in my main pasture.