California Colt Confirmed to Have West Nile Virus

Fresno County horse is among three positive cases in the state.
Share
ADVERTISEMENT

California Colt Confirmed to Have West Nile Virus
The Fresno County horse is among three positive cases in the state. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has identified the state’s first three confirmed cases of West Nile virus (WNV) for the year.

A 2-year-old Quarter Horse colt with unknown vaccination status experienced clinical signs of ataxia (incoordination), hypermetria (an exaggerated gait), lethargy, muscle fasciculations (twitching), and dragging his hind feet on Aug. 11. He tested positive on Aug. 20 and is recovering from the disease.

Two additional (and unvaccinated) California horses have been confirmed positive for WNV in 2019: one each in Kern and Stanislaus counties. Both succumbed to the disease.

According to a CDFA statement, WNV was first detected in California in October 2003, and in 2004 California became the disease epicenter, with 540 confirmed equine clinical cases. WNV is now endemic in the state, with 1,284 confirmed cases since 2003, 540 (42%) of which

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:

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:

Do you use heated water buckets for your horses?
382 votes · 382 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!