March 2002

WNV: Still More Questions Than Answers

West Nile is spreading with a vengeance, but its fatality rate is half what it was and its infection rate is falling in New York and New Jersey.

Restrict turnout to the least likely times for ûmosquito activity, such as late morning and ûearly afternoon.

Most horses live long, healthy lives—longer than ever before—thanks to smart owners who utilize good nutrition and available drugs and vaccines. However, too many horses still lose their lives each year to avoidable infections either because they weren’t inoculated or because their owners neglected to minimize the risk of exposure. The most recent example of this is the West Nile virus.

When the first human case of West Nile was detected in New York in 1999, we told you to keep an eye on your horses, even before the first equine cases were reported. The disease continued its spread in 2000, exploding in 2001 into one of the worst possible places:…