“The odds were certainly not in his favour,” stated Dr. Everett More of the unvaccinated young horse, Manitoba’s second horse to die of West Nile viral infection this year.
Dr. More, Virden Animal Hospital’s senior equine veterinarian reported that they lost their patient to the disease Friday night, August 12, despite an aggressive treatment which began the previous morning.
The animal was a two-year-old horse that was in training and seen regularly.
Wednesday night the horse was discovered prone and unable to rise.
When the veterinarian arrived Thursday morning, treatment began and the horse was assisted to sit up. “It is interesting, he continued to eat and drink to within 10 hours of his dying,” said More.
Observing the symptoms in the unvaccinated horse made West Nile a prime suspect.
This disease which attacks the brain and nervous system got the best of the animal, causing it to thrash about prior to paralysis setting in. This healthy young horse was dead within 48 hours of being discovered to be ill.
A blood sample was taken at the initial examination the results came back from the Saskatoon lab confirming this was a case of West Nile.
This case, within about 70 kms of Virden, is the first case Virden Animal Hospital has treated this year.
In August of 2015 a four-year-old horse in the area also succumbed very quickly to the virus.
Dr. More says the disease can kill an animal quickly, but that is not always the course it takes.
Vaccination against West Nile is extremely effective; mosquitoes which transmit the disease continue until frost.
