The most recent consensus statement on strangles debuted to rave reviews at the June meeting of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) in Minneapolis, Minn. Entitled 2004: Streptococcus equi Infection in Horses: Guidelines for Treatment, Control and Prevention of Strangles, it’s still a work in progress, reports Corinne Sweeney, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, equine internist and professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center. The comprehensive 34-page document addresses clinical signs, pathogenesis, and epidemiology–transmission and spread, diagnosis, vaccination, control of outbreaks, detection of carriers, treatment, and finally, complications.

“This statement will be based on facts, not personal opinions,” says Sweeney. She chairs the group of distinguished specialists in internal medicine, who have been charged with consensus completion, including John F. Timoney, MVB, PhD, DSc, MRCVS, of the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center; J. Richard Newton, BVSc, MSc, PhD, FRCVS, of the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, U.K.; and Melissa T. Hines, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, associate professor chief of the equine medicine service of Washington State University.

Why the current emphasis on strangles? “The ACVIM board sought input from membership on topics of strong interest or concern,” Sweeney notes. “Two years ago, it was West Nile virus.” The strangles consensus is now posted on ACVIM’s web site (www.acvim.org); input is sought from members, the document revised, then comments are again evaluated prior to final manuscript delivery to the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine in October.

The consensus–a one-stop source of information on strangles for veterinarians–notes, “The following…reflects our current knowledge. The information should be an aid to equine clinicians in devising control programs in the management of strangles outbreaks