Strangles
A highly contagious Streptococcus infection that abscesses the glands under the jaw. Fever comes first, three to fourteen days after exposure.
Strangles is the reason a yard closes its gates. It is caused by Streptococcus equi and abscesses the lymph nodes of the upper respiratory tract, and the sequence is worth knowing because it is what the quarantine advice is built on: an incubation period of three to fourteen days, then fever as the first sign, then within a day or two the thick nasal discharge and the swollen glands under the jaw that give the disease its name. A horse starts shedding bacteria within two or three days of that fever and keeps shedding for two or three weeks, sometimes considerably longer — which is why taking temperatures daily catches an outbreak and waiting for snotty noses does not.
See also