A Serious Skin Infection

I am fortunate that my "real job" in the world is working in the health care field in primary care, where I see every kind of health problem including staph infections. In recent history, there have been cases in which people have died from "flesh eating bacteria" in which the infection spread quickly through the deeper layers of tissue. This was usually a strep bacteria, but in the last few years, there have been more cases of staph infections, specifically staph infections resistant to a strong antibiotic called methicillin (the so called "MRSA" infections). Staph lives on the skin of humans as well as horses and for the most part causes no problems or possibly minor infections, including the common childhood skin disease, impetigo, in which yellow crusty lesions are found on the skin. But in horses or human with a compromised immune system, the staph infection can rage out of control quickly. Older horses typically have a harder time fighting off disease and so are especially susceptible. Almost 30 yrs old, my mare Rose falls into that category. She could have gotten it from me, as I had recently had small skin lesions that resembled staph, on my hand. They had been from scratches I'd received when trimming, and had healed up quickly with simple hand washing.

It started as a small bump on her face and neck as well as significant swelling in both front lower legs. I thought Rose had just been standing in her stall too long and had some ankle edema and fluid retention. But, when I ran my hand down her legs, I felt more bumps and when I rubbed on the hair, it fell away, revealing significant open wounds on her skin. Because they were linear I thought she had scratched herself. I washed them with warm water and didn't think much of it. By the next day both of her legs were swollen, with open red hot lesions, weaping with yellow serous drainage. The lesions on her head were larger as well. These were not scratches-this was the beginning of a serious staph infection. It may have started with a small break in the skin (humans always come to me, sure that they have a "spider bite"), but it was quickly becoming a widespread outbreak.

Fortunately, I had seen many staph infections in my professional life and knew that the treatment for it was a sulfa antibiotic. And, I just happened to have a 7 day course of the antibiotic in my posession, having kept it from the time when Rose had injured herself on a barb wire fence. Instead of using the sulfa, I sprayed the Vetricyn CF that my vet had given me, with fantastic healing results. I still had some of the spray left and after scrubbing her legs with hibiclens (an antiseptic wash) I sprayed the Vetricyn up and down her front legs. Rose had already been taking daily butte for her shoulder arthritis, so she was not acting pained at all.

Here's photos of her legs in the first days of the infection. Notice the swelling at her knees.

I was able to keep the infection under control by jumping on it quickly and Rose was more than happy to eat the applesauce laced feed that I mixed the powdered meds in. Fortunately, she was never uncomfortable and accept for not being able to go out with her buddy Chanty (staph infections are very contagious), she was perfectly happy and bright throughout the 7 day treatment. I was careful to wear disposable latex gloves to handle her legs and when I scrubbed her. I used a hand sanitizer after working with her and before going in to take care of my other horses.

It's now been about 10 days since I began treating Rose and I continue to spray the Vetricyn on her legs every day. This is the concentrated formula, which can be purchased only from a vet, stronger than the spray you can buy at a pet store. It is specifically for wound healing and on the bottle indicates it is effective against MRSA. The skin is drying up and now looks like this:

What could have potentially been a deadly infection has turned out to be a controlled skin condition that I'm hoping will heal up as fast as it broke out. Rose is going to be moving to my best friend's place nearby for her 2nd and final retirement. All attempts to ride her have been futile, as her shoulder arthritis is very debilitating for her if she tries to do more than a trot and especially with a rider on her back. Ironically, her feet have done wonderfully with the trim and she no longer stands with her weight forward due to painful heels. Her toe walking now is from the stiffness in her shoulders from years of walking incorrectly.

Rose continues to teach me about the horse and especially the senior horse. They are very sensitive to illness and injury and we must always be on the alert for any changes in their health. I think she'll enjoy her new home and will hopefully get to spend time again with Sally, my other aging girl. My dermatologic (skin) challenge with her has been seborrhea dandruff but I'll leave that story and photos for my next blog.