What’s the Best Diagnostic Test for Strangles?

Penn Vet researchers recently examined different methods for diagnosing strangles.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

What’s the Best Diagnostic Test for Strangles?
Dr. Ashley Boyle (right) sampling a horse's gutteral pouch. | Photo Credit: University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's New Bolton Center
New research by Ashley Boyle, Ashley Boyle, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) New Bolton Center’s Equine Field Service team has revealed that the best method for diagnosing Strangles in horses is to take samples from a horse’s guttural pouch and analyze them using a loop-mediated amplification (LAMP) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

PCR is a molecular diagnostic test to find DNA within a sample through amplification that uses heat. LAMP is a type of DNA amplification that does not use heat, but rather travels in a loop.

Boyle is an internationally recognized expert on strangles who has been conducting research on the disease for more than 10 years. Her work is focused on ways to improve the sensitivity of diagnostic tests to detect the bacteria that cause this highly contagious upper respiratory disease.

Strangles is caused by Streptococcus equi bacteria, related to the bacteria that cause strep throat in humans. Clinical signs include nasal discharge, lethargy, and very high fever (over 103ºF) in horses. The lymph nodes can swell to the point of cutting off the airway, thus the name strangles

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
433 votes · 433 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!