How does a horse become exposed to strangles?
Most horses that develop strangles contract the disease through contact with the infected nasal discharges from another horse that has an active case of strangles or has recently recovered from strangles. Direct transmission occurs when horses, being very social creatures, have nose-to-nose contact with each other. Indirect transmission occurs when a susceptible horse shares feed, water buckets or housing with an infected horse. About 20% of horses continue to shed S. equi in their nasal secretions for several weeks after they have recovered from the disease, making all recovered horses a potential source of infection for at least six weeks after clinical signs have resolved. An extremely small percentage (1% to 10%) of horses continue to shed S. equi in their nasal secretions for months to years. These horses frequently have guttural-pouch infections caused by S. equi. Fortunately, S. equi is not a hearty organism and does not persist for long in the environment. While it is possible
