Strangles outbreak at Northfield Park

Strangles outbreak at Northfield Park ohio

Northfield Park, with the help of an area vet and doctors at The Ohio State University, is struggling to contain an outbreak of strangles that has seven confirmed cases.

Dr. Dan Wilson, a Northfield track vet, was first contacted last week about respiratory illness affecting horses in six different barns on the track. When some of the horses didn’t respond to preliminary treatments, Wilson tested them for strangles and received confirming results.

“At all racetracks there is a lot of respiratory disease, and 99.9 percent of the time not strangles,” said Wilson. “We scope their guttural pouches and took samples from those who did not get better, and the horses came back positive. You always have strangles in the back of your mind when you have a sick horse, but you hope not.”

Symptoms of strangles include high fever, loss of appetite, and enlarged lymph nodes under the chin that often break open and drain.