An equine abcess is a place of concentrated bacterial
infection in the body of the horse. Normally it associated with the production of large
amount of pus. Pus is created by a mixture of dead and dying white blood cells
from the body, dead or dying bacteria and decomposing body cells. Because of all
the cells that are dying within an abcess it contains many toxins and these
toxins generally leak out making the animal feel unwell.
Common places for abcesses are:
- in the feet or hooves after infection enters
through the sole (eg after a nail puncture)
- In the lymph nodes after diseases like
Strangles (lymph nodes are special centers in the body which fight disease)
- In the lungs when a horse has pneumonia
- After operations such as castrations if
infection gets into the wound
It is normally important to drain an abcess
quickly to enable to toxins to escape. Anbiotics are not very effective at
treating abcesses until they are drained because they cannot penetrate the wall
of the abcess that does not have a blood supply. When abcesses are in places
like the lungs they may take a long time to clear up and will recur because the
infection becomes walled off but not totally irradicated.
Immune boosting products can help antibiotics
clear up abcesses more effectively
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