The University of Kentucky’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed a West Nile virus (WNV) diagnosis affecting a 12-year-old Palomino gelding in Powell County, Kentucky.

On Nov. 4, the horse presented as lethargic and febrile (with a fever) and had a poor appetite, according to an Equine Disease Communication Center report. State animal health officials confirmed the WNV diagnosis on Nov. 11.

This is the seventh equine case of WNV reported in Kentucky for 2016. None of the seven horses had been vaccinated for WNV.

West Nile is transmitted to horses via bites from infected mosquitoes. Clinical signs for WNV are flulike, where the horse seems mildly anorexic and depressed; fine and coarse muscle and skin fasciculation; hyperesthesia (hypersensitivity to touch and sound); changes in mentation (mentality), when horses look like they are daydreaming or “just not with it”; occasional somnolence (drowsiness); propulsive walking (driving or pushing forward, often without control); and “spinal” signs, including asymmetrical weakness. Some horses show asymmetrical or symmetrical ataxia. Equine mortality rate can be as high as 30-40%