The James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health will convene a panel discussion on West Nile Virus, March 6 at Tel-A-Race, Hauppauge, Long Island. The discussion will begin at 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Walter Maclyn Conlon, President and CEO of Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation, the panel will focus on the virus’ impact on horses. Panelists will include Dr. John Andresen, the Mattituck veterinarian who first encountered West Nile Virus in Long Island horses last summer, Dr. Juan Lubroth, of the Foreign Animal Disease Laboratory, Plum Island, Dr. Susan Trock, Cornell Veterinary Extension Epidemiologist, NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and Dr. Tom Walton, Associate Deputy Administrator, Veterinary Services, USDA. Professor Douglas F. Antczak, Director, James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health, will serve as moderator.

In 1999, 29 horses on Long Island were confirmed to have contracted the virus, one-third of which died. However the evidence strongly suggests the horse is a dead-end host. That means that researchers believe horses cannot transmit the virus to each other or to other mammals.

West Nile Virus, which can mimic other diseases that affect the central nervous system, is believed to be carried by birds, especially crows, which officials have found dead as a result of the disease. Mosquitoes that bite the crows then transmit the virus to horses and to humans. Several unanswered questions remain. Will the virus reappear in northeastern birds this summer or fall, and have infected birds migrated south, thereby infecting a larger group of horses?

The James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health is a part of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The Long Island Professional Horsemen’s Association, New York State Horse Council, and the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation will sponsor the panel discussion which is open to the public and is free of charge. For further information, please contact Laura Reed, 516/484-1865, or Richard London, 516/360-056; e-mail NationalHS@aol.com