Kentucky has kept extensive statistics on West Nile virus (WNV) cases in the state. At the March 7 West Nile Virus Workshop at the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center, Rusty Ford, Kentucky Equine Programs Manager, reviewed equine WNV statistics from past years. He also described how the state planned to make reporting cases easier in 2003.

West Nile virus was first detected in horses in Kentucky in August of 2001. The mortality rate was 75% that year, but that rate dropped to 25.5% in 2002. The first equine case in 2002, a Thoroughbred yearling, was detected June 27 in the Central Kentucky area. “This was a young, healthy horse, and a vaccinated animal,” he said, “We switched from offense to defense, because we had to defend what and where (these cases were), and the vaccine issue