While vaccinating horses against the
mosquito-borne West Nile Virus has greatly reduced the number of equine deaths
from WNV in the past few years, it’s still cause for concern.
Both horses and humans should be
protected from mosquito bites as much as possible.
In Massachusetts, state health officials are expecting a
record number of disease carrying pests this year, while a child in the
Salt Lake City area came down with the first
human case of the disease in Utah this year. Human and horse cases have
been reported in New Mexico, California and the
Northeast.
Although your horses may be vaccinated
and protected, you aren’t. When you’re working outside with your horses,
remember to wear long sleeves and long pants, use a DEET or lemon eucalyptus
repellant, avoid dusk and dawn, remove or turn over containers that have
standing water and regularly scrub water troughs to remove algae. It has been
shown that bug zappers and some natural fly and insect repellents do not work
against mosquitoes.
Stumble It!
