Two horses from Erda have now tested positive for West Nile Virus within a six-day time period, according to a veterinarian.
Jon McCormick, DVM of Tooele Veterinary Clinic in Tooele City, said results came back last week from a Utah State University lab that a second horse he tested has West Nile Virus. He treated a horse from Erda the previous week for the virus.
“Both horses are doing well with the therapy they received,” McCormick said. “They were treated with a cortisone injection to reduce inflammation.
“With the first horse it was strictly muscular. The second poor horse, it was like his skin was on fire. It was agitated by flies, and that was not normal for this horse,” McCormick said.
He added that 10 horses in Utah were reported to have West Nile Virus between Sept. 8-20.
Prior to working in Tooele, McCormick worked as veterinarian in Jerseyville, Illinois.
“I saw 50 cases of it back there,” he said. “I’ve seen horses die from the West Nile Virus. It came to the United States in 1999 when some exotic birds were brought to a zoo in New York from Africa. Birds harbor the disease and it is carried from birds to other animals through mosquitoes.
“Racehorses started dying in 2001 back East, and at first there was nothing we could do,” McCormick said.
Since then, a vaccine has been developed to treat horses so they won’t get the West Nile Virus, the veterinarian said.
“We have the vaccine here so people can treat their horses,” he said. “A human would have to already have a compromised immune system to become ill from West Nile Virus.”
A Sept. 16 report by the Utah Department of Health showed 25 human cases of West Nile Virus in the state. Fifteen of them were reported in Salt Lake County. None were from Tooele County.
In a one-week span, the health department reported that 43 mosquito pools showed positive in the state for West Nile Virus.
Symptoms of West Nile in humans include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, tremors, seizure or paralysis, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mosquitoes should disappear when temperatures at night consistently hit the 40s, said Scott Bradshaw, Tooele Valley Mosquito Abatement district manager.