Papilloma
Infection
Q. Last year I took over the care of a grey native gelding. His
hooves were over-long and he had a mass of 'cauliflower' growths
on one of his hindlegs, starting from the back of the hoof into
the heel and up into the fetlock ( see photo below).

It was badly
infected but he was never lame on it. The pony is now 10 years old
and before I had him he suffered severe mud fever and cracked heels.
My vet did
a biopsy which showed papilloma virus. The pony was given a course
of antibiotics which cleared up the infection. For treatment thereafter
the vet said to keep him out as much as possible, wash the area
twice a day with salt water and twice a week with Hibiscrub. I also
started using Thuja cream and tablets twice a day. A few months
later the growths were half their size but, as autumn drew on, the
infection came back. The vet told me to stop using the Thuja cream
as this could be keeping the warts soft. I was only to wash them
as necessary but put formaldehyde solution on every night. A month
later the warts were getting bigger again. What should I do next?
A. I
would suggest that your horse acquired the papilloma infection because
of the problem he had previously with mud fever and cracked heels.
It is likely that he also weakened his body defences which made
him more likely to get mud fever and also means that the virus finds
it easier to grow and produce nasty growths that you see.
Of course,
damaged tissue is likely to get infected and cause problems. What
you need to do is find some means of increasing the body's ability
to fight the virus and repair damaged tissue. In the conventional
medicine field there are not many things that can do this work but
there are a large number of plants that can help a great deal.
I use a
particular selection of Ayurvedic herbs which could help a great
deal, both by tackling the virus and helping the natural healing
response.
Alternatively
there are a large number of other commercial formulae that might
also be useful.
As for topical
ointment, I would suggest that you use Aloe Vera gel. Some mixtures
such as formaldehyde solution might conceivably irritate the infected
tissue and cause it to grow more vigorously.
Homoeopathic
formulae could cetainly be very useful and I think the Thuja could
have helped a lot. Try the Thuja again with an immune stimulating
herbal mix. Herbal supplements and homoeopathy are very different
but we know that one formula does improve the action of homoeopathic
medicine so the two should go together.
If your
question has not been covered adequately in the Vet Advice Topic
Section, please feel free to start a thread in the Forum, and -
time permitting - Stephen will endeavour to answer your question.
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