Two New Equine Cases of WNV Reported in Kentucky

The newly confirmed cases make for eight total WNV-infected Kentucky horses this year.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

The Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office announced Oct. 9 that two additional horses—one from Crittenden  County and one from Nelson County—have tested positive for West Nile virus (WNV), bringing the commonwealth’s total for the year to eight.

In a statement Kentucky Equine Programs manager E.S. "Rusty" Ford said the Crittenden horse is an 8-year-old Haflinger with an unknown WNV vaccination history. The mare is in stable condition. The Nelson horse is an 8-month-old Belgian filly with no WNV vaccination history.

In 2014 Kentucky confirmed four cases of WNV in horses on four premises.

West Nile is transmitted to horses via bites from infected mosquitoes. Clinical signs for WNV include flulike signs, where the horse seems mildly anorexic and depressed; fine and coarse muscle and skin fasciculation; hyperesthesia (hypersensitivity to touch and sound); changes in mentation (mentality), when horses look like they are daydreaming or "just not with it"; occasional somnolence (drowsiness); propulsive walking (driving or pushing forward, often without control); and "spinal" signs, including asymmetrical weakness. Some horses show asymmetrical or symmetrical ataxia. Equine mortality rate can be as high as 30-40%

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care is an equine publication providing the latest news and information on the health, care, welfare, and management of all equids.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!