Kentucky’s 12th Equine WNV Case 2017
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture confirmed West Nile virus (WNV) in a 2-year-old male Tennessee Walking Horse presenting with ataxia and muscle fasiculations on September 16. The horse, which has no WNV vaccination history, is responding to treatment with near full recovery. This is the 12th case of WNV in Kentucky in 2017.
Wisconsin Reports Three New EEE Cases
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection confirmed three cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).
Horses included an unvaccinated Standardbred mare (age, clinical signs, and outcome unknown at this time) from Taylor County; a 3-year-old unvaccinated Quarter Horse stallion from Clark County found unable to rise and which died shortly after he was sampled on September 14; and a 5-year-old Quarter Horse mare from Chippewa County found lethargic in the morning of September 17.
When the last-named mare was examined by a veterinarian in the evening, she was lethargic, reluctant to move and ataxic. The mare became recumbent during the night and was sampled and euthanized the next morning. According to the attending veterinarian, the mare was vaccinated last year, but not this year.
These are the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth equine EEE cases in Wisconsin this year.
The Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC) works to protect horses and the horse industry from the threat of infectious diseases in North America. The communication system is designed to seek and report real time information about disease outbreaks similar to how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerts the human population about diseases in people.
