{"id":1718,"date":"2008-10-11T13:11:49","date_gmt":"2008-10-11T06:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/?p=1718"},"modified":"2008-10-11T13:11:49","modified_gmt":"2008-10-11T06:11:49","slug":"two-texas-horses-test-positive-for-eee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/industry\/two-texas-horses-test-positive-for-eee\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Texas Horses Test Positive for EEE;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>News Release<br \/>\nTexas Animal Health Commission<br \/>\nBox l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719<br \/>\nBob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director<br \/>\nFor info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or\u00a0<a class=\"moz-txt-link-abbreviated\" href=\"mailto:ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us\">ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us<\/a><br \/>\n<em>\u00a0<br \/>\n<\/em>October 9, 2008<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><br \/>\nHorses Need Protection Against Mosquito-Borne Diseases<br \/>\n<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n<\/strong>Texas has joined at least five other states this year in reporting cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis infection in horses. In Houston County, in the southeast corner of the state, a horse with clinical illness has tested positive for the disease, and in the north central Texas, in Denton County, a vaccinated horse also tested positive and exhibited clinical signs of disease.\u00a0 EEE, which can be transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, also has been reported this year in horses in Georgia, Florida, Maine, Tennessee, and New Hampshire and in Ontario, Canada.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInfected horses are a \u2018sentinel\u2019 or warning that infected mosquitoes are in the area, and measures should be taken to protect humans against exposure to the dangerous pests,\u201d said Dr. Andy Schwartz, state epidemiologist for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state\u2019s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.\u00a0 \u201cProtect yourself and your horses with a mosquito spray containing DEET, get rid of stagnant water, and avoid being outside at night, when mosquitoes are more active.\u201d<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n\u201cHorses with mosquito-borne encephalitic viruses, such as EEE, Western Equine Encephalitis (WEE) or West Nile Virus (WNV), may stagger, appear confused, and act erratically.\u00a0 Owners should contact their veterinarian immediately, if their equine animals exhibit clinical signs of these diseases.\u00a0 About half of infected animals may be saved, with the appropriate supportive care,\u201d said Dr. Schwartz.\u00a0 Although EEE, WEE and WNV are not regulatory diseases, they are reportable to the TAHC and to the Texas Department of State Health Services, due to their potential to cause human disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVaccines are readily available to protect equine animals against mosquito-borne encephalitic diseases, but they must be given according to the manufacturer\u2019s&#8221; directions, and it takes at least a week to 10 days after vaccination for protective antibodies to develop. Booster shots also must be given as needed.\u00a0 Heed your veterinarian\u2019s advice,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cAs good as vaccines are at protecting against infection, there are rare times when a vaccinated animal will still contract disease.\u00a0 That is no reason to avoid vaccinating your animals.\u201d<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nDr. Schwartz noted that, in 2002, when West Nile Virus was first detected in Texas, 1,699 equine animals were stricken with infection.\u00a0 West Nile vaccine has helped cut those case numbers from 716 in 2003 to only two cases in 2008.\u00a0 \u201cVaccinating against mosquito-borne diseases has to be a part of routine equine health care,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t stop, just because case numbers drop.\u201d<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 &#8211;30&#8212;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News Release Texas Animal Health Commission Box l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719 Bob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or\u00a0ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us \u00a0 October 9, 2008 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Horses Need Protection Against Mosquito-Borne Diseases \u00a0 \u00a0 Texas has joined at least [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,27,14,31,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disease-outbrake","category-government","category-industry","category-veterinary-medicine","category-watching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1719,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718\/revisions\/1719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}