Remedial Biology anyone?

[triplev123]

G'day all,
In the spirit of the 'rant' thread from a few days ago now...here's one that ticks me off.
Horsemen lamenting their horses having contracted the ubiquitous 'Virus' who then go on to say how they've given them a shot of Antibiotics & hoped that they'd recover pretty quickly.
JESUS WEPT!!!!!!!!! Someone in Officialdom please put out a Press Release to let these guys know that banging a big ol' syringe full of Penicillen into a horse isn't going to lay a glove on a Virus let alone stop one. Antibiotics are of course only effective against Bacterial infections.
End rant.

[David Summers]

In case anyone is sceptical of VVV's mini rant , there are a million posts on the web that say exactly this. Here is just one that really covers it completely:

"Penicillin works by dissolving the cell walls of most bacteria. Viruses have no cell walls. They're just little (tiny even compared to a bacterium) balls of armored protein plating surrounding a package of what is usually RNA. The RNA carries instructions on how to build more viruses. When the virus bumps into a suitable cell it injects the RNA, which takes over the cell and converts it into a factory for producing more viruses.

It's not even technically "alive" because it can't do much without a host cell. No metabolism to jam, a durable capsid or envelope that looks a lot like other things in a cell you don't want to dissolve... killing viruses is hard because they're so simple there's not much to break. Their simplicity is their strength.

There are antiviral drugs but they don't work too well. Remember that antibiotics will do absolutely nothing against a virus."

That's the end of today's lecture ;-)

[Don Corleone]

Thank you Thank you. I have read/talked to many a trainer/owner etc who have said that same thing to me over the years. The press publish what a trainer has said. Trackside interview trainers who say the same thing, yet no one ever bothers to mention antibiotics are only effective against Bacterial infections!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lucky Camilla"s Lovechild]

Ah, isn't it the vet giving the 'antibiotic' or whatever to the horse? And shouldn't the vet know? Nine times out of ten its only a cold. A virus sounds better than a cold anyway. I've never had a day off work for a cold. But i've always had a flu! My pet hate is when a trainer is asked how their horse is going, and inveriably the reply is "he's goin good".

[triplev123]

Trainer speak can be a language all of its own.
I always got a cold shiver down my spine when I heard "He's doin' everything we ask of him right now." Thankfully I haven't heard it for quite a while. These days it would translates as..."I've done bugger all with him to this point in time but he's filling a box and you're paying the monthly training fees and that allows me to make the repayments on my new 152 inch Panasonic plasma TV ".

[sushi]

if they knew past yr 10 science they wouldnt be trainers triple v...

lucky camilla... a cold is a virus, caused by a rhinovirus... trainers all have penicillin in some form and they give it out like tic tacs, the vet doesnt enter the equation, a good horse will probably get a blood test, but only after they drop out as a 1.50 favourite

antibiotics will cause more harm as they wipe out the immune system, vitamin c has no effect, and young horses with a low immunity (yearlings with warts will loose them over time as they mature) should be kept away from race horses (cran dalgety built a new barn for the youngsters)

rant over.

[Flashing Red]

if they knew past yr 10 science they wouldnt be trainers triple v....

That's not very fair! There is a gentleman in Brisbane who happens to be a barrister AND trotting trainer/driver.

[Flashing Red]

vitamin c has no effect.

False. Inject 20mL twice a day intravenously for almost any ailment (infections, any sort of sickness, bleeders etc) and you'll soon see how well it works - even on those considered "terminal'!!

[Flashing Red]

Someone in Officialdom please put out a Press Release to let these guys know that banging a big ol' syringe full of Penicillen into a horse isn't going to lay a glove on a Virus let alone stop one. Antibiotics are of course only effective against Bacterial infections.
End rant.

lmao - the good old "virus" - what every horse out of form or who puts in a bad run seems to get! :P I don't think they give Penicillin at all - I just think they are trying to save face from a bad performance... one has to say something :P

[aussiebreno]

That's not very fair! There is a gentleman in Brisbane who happens to be a barrister AND trotting trainer/driver.

And I know plenty of people in the industry who went on to year 12 .....but failed.