"We are sure that the new strangles vaccine will be a vital tool in disease prevention and a huge benefit to the equestrian industry" - Sara Barker, Dechra.

Protein-based tool is available for horses and ponies.

Dechra Veterinary Products has announced a "groundbreaking" vaccine to protect horses and ponies against strangles.

Developed over 25 years, Strangvac is the first and only intramuscular vaccine for strangles - a highly contagious disease caused by the Streptococcus equi bacterium.

The new vaccine contains recombinant proteins from Streptococcus equi and features DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) capability. It possesses no live bacteria or bacterial DNA, nor will it trigger a positive result in PCR or culture tests.

Strangvac is proven effective in more than 94 per cent of horses, reducing the clinical signs of strangles, including high temperature, coughing. Difficulty swallowing and inappetance. It can be administered to foals from the age of five months, with two injections given at a four-week interval.

The manufacturer states that horses at high risk of Streptococcus equi should be re-vaccinated after two months, such as those in livery. Immunological memory was found in horses following repeated vaccination six months after primary vaccination.

Strangvac has been made possible thanks to more than €20million of funding from the Animal Health Trust and, more recently, the Swedish company Intervacc AB. 

Dr Andrew Waller, chief scientific officer at Intervacc AB, the company that developed the vaccine, comments: “Strangvac is a groundbreaking new vaccine which, alongside good stable management and biosecurity procedures, can play a really important role in improving herd immunity and reducing the number of strangles cases in the equine population, thereby preventing major economic loss to the equestrian industry.”

Sara Barker, equine field support manager at Dechra, added: “Strangles is highly contagious and is one of the most common equine respiratory diseases with an estimated 600 outbreaks each year in the UK alone. Feared by horse owners due to the potential severity of clinical signs and the infectious nature of strangles, we are sure that the new strangles vaccine will be a vital tool in disease prevention and a huge benefit to the equestrian industry as a whole.”

Further information about the vaccine is available from Dechra territory sales managers.