June 2004

West Nile’s “Sneak” Attacks

Last summer, when your horse didn’t seem quite “right,” he may have been fighting off a West Nile virus infection.

Cleaning up areas of standing water is an absolute must in the battle to control mosquitoes.

Horsemen have been dealing with the nightmare of West Nile virus for five years. Between 1999—when it first appeared in the Long Island area—and 2003, a total of 20,716 horses with officially confirmed cases of WNV have been recorded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, the true number, including horses that were never tested, is likely much higher.

West Nile earns the title of the worst encephalitis epidemic ever recorded in North America. The virus has been documented in at least 138 different species of birds and 43 species of mosquitoes. Most of the mosquito species prefer to feed on birds, keeping the virus well circulated through this reservoir. However,…