Historical stages of studying and developing measures to combat horse strangles
Authors:   Federal Research Centre «The Yakut Scientific Centre of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences», «Yakut Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture», Yakutsk, Russia, Elbyadova Evdokiya I. , Neustroev Mikhail P. ,   Federal Research Centre «The Yakut Scientific Centre of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences», «Yakut Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture», Yakutsk, Russia, Vasilyeva Susanna A. ,   Federal Research Centre «The Yakut Scientific Centre of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences», «Yakut Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture», Yakutsk, Russia
Published: September 2024

The article describes the main historical stages in the study of the causative agent of horse strangles, as well as the treatment and prevention of this disease. The disease has been known since ancient times. The first reports of horse strangles were made in 1254 in the book of J. Ruffus, an officer of the imperial court of Emperor Frederick II in Italy. Also, the first information about strangles is mentioned in the works of Zolleisel, published in France in 1664. At the beginning of the 19th century, Erdely and Viborg proved that the nasal discharge of sick horses is contagious. in 1873, Rivolt and D. Paz first discovered micrococcus in the pus of a sick washed horse. Then, in 1888, Schutz, Jensen and Sand established that the causative agent of this infection is Streptococcus equi. In Russia, data on horse strangles have appeared since the end of the 19th century. For the first time in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the disease of foals with viral diseases and strangles was established in the farms of the Megino-Kangalassky, Ust-Aldansky, Amginsky, Namsky and Khangalasssky uluses in 1993 by M.P. Neustroev. Currently, many methods of treating mytomas are offered in the country. However, most authors use antibiotics in combination with other drugs, which is inappropriate during the development of organic livestock farming. Vaccine prevention is recognized as one of the current main measures used in the prevention of infectious diseases. Scientists from around the world have developed and put into production various vaccines against horse strangles. However, these vaccines are not registered in Russia and cannot be used in our country. In this regard, in 2000, Yakut scientists developed and introduced into production a vaccine against horse strangles with an immunomodulator – polyribonate. The vaccine was made based on the Str. equi "N-34". However, due to the relatively high cost of the components of the developed vaccine, specific prevention could not cover the majority of horse breeding units and peasant farms. The high cost of the immunomodulator contributed to the overall high cost of the vaccine. At this time, the registration period for this vaccine has expired, polyribonate has been discontinued, and the strain of streptococcus from which the vaccine is made has lost its specific properties. In this regard, in 2021, a new inactivated vaccine against horse strangles was developed, approved and put into production (No. 71-1-27.21-4828 No. PVR-1-27.21/03691 dated 12/08/2021). The effectiveness of immunization was 97.6 %. The production testing experience confirmed the high immunogenicity of the inactivated vaccine against mytoma. Also, the vaccine against horse strangles is in demand in Kazakhstan and Mongolia, which have a significant number of herd horses. For Kazakhstan and Mongolia, we have developed highly immunogenic vaccines against horse strangles “Tabyn” (registration number VKShM-B141P dated May 22, 2018) and an inactivated vaccine against horse strangles (registration number 1211 QF dated April 4, 2023).