By Pam McClounie

Last updated at 15:09, Friday, 20 November 2009

A disease has broken out in Cumbria which can be fatal for horses.

The disease – known as Atypical Equine Myositis/Myoglobinuria – has claimed the life of at least one horse and four others have had to undergo aggressive treatment.

Vet Neil Frame, from Frame, Swift and Partners in Penrith, said: “It is very worrying but we are quite lucky that the ones we have treated have recovered quickly after aggressive treatment.

“The signs are usually a stiffness in the limbs followed rapidly by generalised muscle weakness and then recumbency for prolonged periods.

“The other main sign is cherry black or dark brown discolouration of the urine.

“A percentage of horses will never rise again and need euthanasia due to terminal heart failure and respiratory disease – horses are not designed to lie on their side for prolonged periods.”

The disease causes huge damage to the skeletal muscles causing the horses to weaken and go down.

The damaged muscle cells release myoglobin (the muscle pigment) which causes the discolouration of urine but also can cause renal failure as the myoglobin destroys the kidney tubes.

Mr Frame said the disease, which is spreading across the Penrith, Appleby and Kirkby Stephen areas, tends to affect younger horses at grass.

He said: “It has an 80 per cent mortality rate but we have only lost one out of five horses so far.

“There were two cases in southern England in 2007 and a big outbreak in Belgium in 2005. We have found that the horses we have treated have been at the younger end of the scale – about five to six years old.

“One of them was eight years old.”

Treatment must be rapid and involves administering huge volumes of intravenous fluids to prevent kidney failure, pain relief and intensive nursing.

The cause of the disease is thought to be a mycotoxin which can grow on pastures after a dry spell, followed by wet, squally weather.

Mr Frame added: “The disease will disappear after a prolonged frosty spell which is thought to kill the mycotoxin growing on the pasture.”

Horse owners should make sure that all their horses are adequately vaccinated, wormed and other diseases treated properly to remove all stress.

They should be given as much shelter as possible.

For more information go to www.frameswiftandpartners.co.uk.

First published at 14:09, Friday, 20 November 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk