Two Ontario horses have recently been diagnosed with West Nile virus infection, prompting the equine health advisory below from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs. That’s not too surprising, as now is the typical time of year that we start seeing this mosquito-borne infection in Ontario. West Nile numbers in both humans and horses tend to vary year-to-year. There’s been some suggestion that this might be a bad year for West Nile virus based on mosquito pool testing, but predicting West Nile infections is far from an exact science, as a multitude of different factors are involved.  Only time will tell whether it’s going to be a bad year or not.

Regardless, West Nile remains a relatively rare disease in Ontario, but one that’s best avoided if possible. That involves mosquito control and mosquito avoidance, for both horses and people.