HORSING AROUND BY TRIANA ELAN

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West Nile Virus

It’s been in the horse magazines, and for the last three years it was only an East Coast problem. Now it’s creeping this way. It’s the West Nile Virus, and it can be potentially deadly.

Now before we all panic, let’s get a few facts straight. One can come down with West Nile Virus (I’ll call it WNV for convenience) and not even know it, and get over it like any other virus. This virus is transmitted by mosquitoes who have picked up via birds. The mosquitoes then go and bite a horse, the horse comes down with WNV. Sometimes they die from an infection in the brain, form of encephalitis. Humans can also die from the same thing after succumbing to WNV.

As far as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) can tell, there is no way that the virus can be transmitted from human to horse or horse to human. It seems to be exclusively delivered by the bite of a mosquito. Symptoms are the same as the flu in both horse and human. There is no known vaccine against this virus, but they’re working on it.

The media is having a field day with this and it’s difficult to say how concerned we should be, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Some measures of protection: From April through October, from dusk to dawn, use insect repellent and wear long sleeves and pants. For your horse, Avon Skin So Soft spray works very well to repel mosquitoes and must be applied daily (or nightly) for maximum protection.

The very best measures are to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds, such as water troughs and access to the many ponds we have around here. For the stock tanks, be sure to change the water weekly, and you can even pour some vegetable oil into the stock tank which will prevent mosquitoes from breeding; the oil won’t hurt the horses.

Putting your horse in a stall at night reduces the risk of being bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus. Nature has her way of dealing with mosquitoes, such as bats and barn swallows. Netting helps too, as long as your horse can’t get stuck in it.

While death from WNV is rare, it can still happen. For more information about this virus and how to protect yourself and your horse, log onto the CDC website www.cdc.gov/ or the U.S. Department Of Agriculture’s WNV page www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/wnv).

© 2002 Island Star