Area horse tests positive for West Nile

At least one horse in Cape Girardeau County has contracted the West Nile Virus, according to county health department administrator Charlotte Craig.

A veterinarian phoned Craig today with the confirmation, she said. Blood was drawn from the horse last week and was sent off for testing. The results were not unexpected.

"I'm not surprised," Craig said. "Chances are pretty good the virus was here last year too and that we just didn't catch on to it. ... It's pretty unlikely it just hopped across the river overnight."

She said horse owners should take the necessary precautions to protect their animals.

"I have horses, and I'm getting them immunized," Craig said.

However, one sick horse should not be cause for alarm to the public, she said.

"I'm much more afraid about the threat of Hepatitis B and C, or even getting struck by lightning," Craig said. "This community has not overreacted to this virus, and that's largely because the media has done such a good job with dispersing the information."

Like others in the public health field, Craig said the best thing residents can do to prevent further infections is to control the mosquito population by emptying items holding water each day and using insect repellent when going outdoors at dusk and dawn.

"They should be aware of what's happening, but they should not start holing up the kids and themselves indoors out of fear," she said.

Statewide, samples from 17 other horses have tested positive for West Nile as of Friday.

Chances that a horse bitten by an infected mosquito will develop encephalitis, a swelling of the brain that can be fatal, are probably less than 1 percent, according to officials at the University of Missouri's Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in Columbia.

mwells@semissourian.com

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