It’s that time of year. Mosquitoes have been annoying me for months (I get bitten multiple times a day where I live, even with repellent), but now they’re becoming a bigger issue. While mosquitoes bite all season, some of the diseases they transmit are only a significant risk at certain times of year.
One high
The title says it all. Here are the most recent maps from WormsAndGermsMap showing equine cases of West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus infection. As with any surveillance, the maps only capture a percentage of the true number of cases, but looking at the geographic distribution and trends in date-of-onset can still
Arboviruses (ARthropod-BOrne viruses) are viruses that are spread by insects, often mosquitoes. As I’ve written about recently, mosquito biology and differences in reservoir species mean that mosquito-borne viruses can have quite different patterns of distribution and spread. As is common, the occurrence of West Nile virus infection in horses tends
‘Tis the season for mosquitoes, so ‘tis the season for some nasty vector-borne diseases. Few are worse that Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a viral infection that causes typically fatal disease in horses, and less commonly other species, including people. Cases tend to start mid-summer and peak late summer to fall, depending on the mosquito dynamics
During today’s Canadian Equine Infectious Disease Surveillance call, Dr. Alison Moore from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs gave an update on equine infectious neurological disease cases in the province. Prominent amongst those disease is eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). This very mosquito-borne viral infection is fortunately pretty rare in horses and
2014 was the worst year ever for Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in Ontario (though our numbers still pale in comparison to more endemic areas in the southern US, such as Florida). A recent article published in the Animal Health Lab (AHL) Newletter (December 2014) by Dr. Alison Moore from OMAFRA sums things up well:
"Twenty-two
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has issued an Equine Health Advisory in response to diagnosis of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in a horse in Stormont/Dundas/Glengarry, in eastern Ontario. The 12-year-old gelding died, which is the typically outcome with this disease in horses.
EEE is a devastating but fortunately rare (at least
It’s hard to think about mosquito-borne disease season here at the moment, with temperatures in Ontario still going down to freezing, but the highly concerning disease eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) has been identified in a Marion County, Florida horse. This mosquito-borne virus causes highly fatal infection in both humans and horses. People don’t get it
‘Tis the season…
Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is a very serious disease that’s fortunately rare in Ontario, but when it happens, it’s bad news. It’s a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes (similar to West Nile virus), and we often see a couple of horses affected every year, usually starting around now (late August) and extending
An 8-week-old puppy in Van Buren County, Michigan has died from infection by a virus that normally infects horses. This is a rather rare occurrence of a nonetheless devastating infection. The puppy was euthanized after developing seizures and other neurological abnormalities, and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus infection was ultimately diagnosed. Testing for this and
