West Nile Vaccine

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griff
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West Nile Vaccine

Postby griff » Fri Jan 14, 2005 3:38 pm

There was an article in yesterday's Bloodhorse abouta study accomplished in Texas indicating were no problems with the West Nile vaccine.

comments?

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sulphurfire
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Postby sulphurfire » Fri Jan 14, 2005 4:31 pm

Well I live in Southewest Louisiana and we still have a problem here with the west nile, so I would still vaccinate if I was close to here.

griff
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Postby griff » Fri Jan 14, 2005 4:40 pm

I must not have made myself clear.

the Texas study found there were no adverse efects asociated with giving the West Nile vaccine. I am taking two mares to the stallion barn next week and my vet recomended we wait to vaccinate for West Nile until after they foal because of some rumors about adverse effects of the vaccine. His concer wasabout where there is smoke there may be fire.

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Postby mary syers » Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:25 pm

Be careful what you believe. Who funded the study? If it was Fort Dodge labs or any subsidiary of Bayer, take the facts with a grain of salt. Self interest can make for an interesting study. The anticedal evidence is that there is some incidence or red bag in near full term births and some incidence of abortion or absortion in mares vacinated in first trimester. The problem is that the disease is a whole lot worse than the risk with vaccination. Mary

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Postby griff » Fri Jan 14, 2005 5:58 pm

according to aphis.usda.gov there are two WNV vaccines licensed for use in the USA> Fort Dodge's 2002 vaccine isa killed virus while Menial's 2003 vaccine is a live vectored recuminent vaccine.

Any thoughts on which to use?

Also, what do you think of my vet's recommendation to vaccinate after foaling and before breeding?

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Postby austique » Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:36 pm

OSU uses the Fort Dodge but they have a research relationship with them. They vaccinate 30 days out from foaling and have no problems so far. I did hear of a breeder in NM I think who gave two shots of the vaccine (unknown which brand) really close together to freshly bred mares and some of the mares aborted, but (a) this information is anectdotal and (b) I don't know why you would give two shots of the vaccine close together. Anybody got any ideas?

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Postby Roguelet » Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:20 pm

I've vaccinated every one of our pregnant mares with the WNV vaccine since it first became available. I include it in the pre-foaling vaccines, and have never had one single problem. I always use a killed vaccine on pregnant mares; just personal preference. I will continue to give the vaccine as part of the pre-foaling series... in fact, I will be doing that with two mares this weekend. :)

There's always a risk associated with any vaccine, but IMO it's BY FAR the lesser of two evils.

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Postby Lei Owen » Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:10 pm

http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=5363

This is an article about a study done by Texas A&M regarding WN vaccine and pregnant mare's.
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West Nile Vaccine

Postby EO » Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:12 am

Last year, a friend of ours lost 2 foals out of 4. The only thing different about them was the mares were vaccinated for WNV. The big Qtr Horse Farm in Texas they had had their frozen semen shipped from had at that time lost 25 foals already and they were going to be foaling out over 200. The farm manager said they were going to take their chances even though they were in WNV area rather than give it and lose foals. That was over 10% of their foal crop and they weren't even half way through the foaling season. It is a dilemma, that is for sure. EO
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Karie
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Postby Karie » Sat Jan 15, 2005 8:24 am

I had a problem with a mare that foaled in 2003 that had been given the vaccince.. (foal died had unexplainable leisions on every organ in his body- Michigan State University actually told me they had never seen anything like this before. It was totally unexplainable) after that she was impossible to get in foal. At the same farm the farm owner had 2 mares (of her own) that she couldn't get in foal.
All 3 mares were Young, healthy, cultured clean the entire time and had no problems at all.. All 3 mares were bred numerous times to 2 different stallions (mine one of her stallions and my own stallion) and none of these 3 mares got in foal. (oh yeah also all of them had foaled before no maidens- and previously got in foal VERY easy) The ONLY thing in common with the 3 mares were that they all had been given the west nile Vaccine.. (not sure which version) So just because of what I have seen and feel I will only give the vaccine to geldings.
just my opinion.......

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Postby mary syers » Sat Jan 15, 2005 8:31 am

Karie,
From what I have heard from other breeders, the problem with fertility seems to go away the next year. Again just antecedal evidence, not a research project. Mary

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Postby Roguelet » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:04 am

Karie: I had a very similar experience with a mare, not a maiden mare, cultured clean, cycling fine, bred to two different stallions (both also proven) all year and NOTHING. And yes, she was cycling normally.

The following season we bred her to a different stallion and she caught the first time. Go figure.

This all happened before the WNV vaccine was even out. I think a lot of times something strange happens for no apparent reason and people assume it's due to "something"... but truthfully, nobody knows. Sometimes strange things just happen! Sometimes farms have really bad years. This has been going on since long before the WNV vaccine was ever even heard of, but if it happens when nothing has been changed or nothing different has been done, it's chalked up to bad luck, part of the business, and not really documented or thought about much afterwards.

I'm not saying that there's not a risk with the vaccine... of course there is. There's a risk with everything. I just hate to see people put too much faith in purely anecdotal evidence. Show me the PROOF! (as in scientific!) JMO

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Postby Karie » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:24 am

Roguelet- I agree with you.. There is no proof that the vaccine caused the mares not to get in foal for 2005. The Vaccine might not be part of what was wrong with any of the 3 mares.. But I will not take that chance again.
Its just the only thing these 3 mares had in common.
I know there are MANY factors that combine into mares not getting in foal... Hopefully I wont see any of them this year :)

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Postby mary syers » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:51 am

Karie,
Give them the WNV booster while they are not in foal. After foaling and before breeding. I've heard that people have alot of success doing this. Don't rist WN. Until you've seen a poor horse with this disease, you don't know how devistating it can be. Mary

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WN Vaccine

Postby rds » Sat Jan 15, 2005 1:19 pm

There are 2 vaccines available. I believe that all of the published issues were with the Fort Dodge vaccine which is a traditional type product. The Merial product, Recombitek (spelling could be wrong...), is an amazing jump in technology. It modifies the DNA of the horse, so it becomes naturally immune. Even the first dose provides some protection, whereas with the Fort Dodge, the first dose does nothing. Even the second dose provides protection for maybe 6 months.

With the Merial vaccine, 2 doses are recommended, and then once a year. It is possible, since DNA is affected, that the protection becomes perminant.

I vaccinated 11 pregnant mares this last summer with the Merial product, and have had no unusual issues.

UC Davis is now recommending the Merial product, and my Vets are using no other.

I will be vaccinating all my horses in the March timeframe, mares, Stallions, and all.

Shop around for pricing - I have seen it get better recently.