How the vaccines work, why and when...
SEASONAL REMINDERS
Fall Vaccines, genetically engineered vaccines
Once again the end of season events are here. It is time to vaccinate the horses attending these events. Most of the horses showing have been boostered for the respiratory diseases in the spring at the beginning of the show season. The first shows of the season give the horses an opportunity to come together and share the colds, flu, and any other respiratory diseases they harbored in their barn back home. Protection at this time saves a great deal of illness and lost training time.
Unfortunately, rhinopneumonitis and influenza are caused by viruses. Viruses, by nature, are not good immune stimulators. Following the second injection of the initial series or the booster injection, Dobbin’s immunity will be very high. This immunity persists for two months and then starts tapering off rapidly. To help provide protection for the show horse we recommend boostering with the “rhino” and “flu” vaccine within at least six months of the initial one. If the horse is campaigned hard, boosters at the end of each quarter are necessary. For those horses boostered in the spring, the six month period is up now.
Due to the high incidence or strangles within our horse population, we suggest boostering with the strangles vaccine at the same time the horse is boostered with flu and rhino. Only by maintaining a strongly immunized horse population will we be able to slow the spread of this very old but bothersome disease.
So you are preparing to take your horses into the thick of the Celebration, or the Show of Champions, is there anything else you can do to protect your horse from the respiratory diseases listed above as well as the stray ones brought in from the farms? Well now there is. We have a genetically engineered drug that stimulates the horse’s immune system. When we administer the vaccines along with this drug, the immunity stimulated by the vaccines will be much greater. In addition, by stimulating the overall immune system, the horse will be better able to defeat any other respiratory disease organism they may come into contact with during this time of stress and exposure. This combination is a powerful weapon against colds and flu.
Many of our foals are being weaned right now. This is a stressful time, one that leaves them vulnerable to any disease organism. We can protect against many of the more common diseases by vaccinating. Vaccination of the young must wait until after sixty days of age. Prior to this time mothers immunity is protecting the foal and was delivered there through the colostrum. This colostrum is loaded with antibodies against any disease organisms Mother came into contact with the preceding months. These circulate within the foal and protect it for the first six weeks. Thereafter the antibodies taper off. Along this same time the foal’s immune system starts working. By two months of age the foal will respond to vaccination. An initial dose of vaccine for influenza, rhinopneumonitis, strangles, tetanus, and sleeping sickness is given. This must be followed in three to six weeks with a booster. Without the booster, the initial vaccination will be for naught. With this second vaccination, we also give the rabies vaccine, only one dose is needed per year.
The initial vaccinations give the foal’s immune system a model from which to form antibodies. The next vaccination (the booster) then stimulates the production of these antibodies. If too much time passes between vaccinations, the body forgets how to produce these antibodies. If the initial vaccinations are properly administered in a timely manner, the next vaccination in six months will only further strengthen the foal’s immunity.
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