Strangles vaccine returns four years after being withdrawn
News that a new strangles vaccination is to go on sale in October has been cautiously welcomed by vets and charities.
Equilis StrepE is a new version of the jab withdrawn in 2007.
But some experts have warned that eradication of the highly infectious respiratory disease, rather than learning to live with it, should be the aim.
Epidemiologist Richard Newton of the Animal Health Trust said: “There are two ways of dealing with strangles. One is zero tolerance, where you identify the carriers and make sure they don’t mix with other horses, and the other is living with the problem, which is where this vaccine takes us.
“The vaccine has its place and deals with the end result of the problem, but not the root cause.”
He said that although chances of eliminating strangles from the UK horse population were remote, strangles can be eradicated on a premises, by isolation of incoming horses.
Read the full story, including comments from BEVA and World Horse Welfare, about this latest development, in the current issue of Horse & Hound (10 June, 2010)
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.