Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development says it has confirmed Michigan’s first 2020 case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in a horse in Clare County.
Blood engorged mosquito after feeding
The percentage of deaths is much higher in horses - 90% - than it is in people - 33% - and there is a vaccine for horses, but not for people.
© 2018 by PD-USGOV-HHS-CDC New window.
The horse was a 2-year-old filly, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said Tuesday.
EEE is a rare mosquito-borne illness. In people, symptoms include fever, chills and body aches. Severe cases can lead to headaches, disorientation, tremors, seizures, paralysis, brain damage, coma and death.
Last year, EEE infected a record 10 people in Michigan and killed six of them, all in the southwest part of the state. Also last year, the state identified EEE in 50 animals in 20 counties.
Generally, EEE proves fatal in about a third of people who develop symptoms. That percentage is much higher in horses — 90% — but there is a vaccine for horses and not for people.
According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development, the Clare County horse was never vaccinated.
“(The horse) developed signs of illness — including walking in circles, leaning to the right, and pressing her head against objects — which progressed to the horse being down on the ground with an inability to get up,” Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development state veterinarian Dr. Nora Wineland said in a statement. “Horse owners in Michigan should take extra measures to protect their animals.”
The state advised owners to vaccinate their horses, keep them in the barn with a fan during peak mosquito hours and use a mosquito repellant on the animals.
To protect yourself from the virus, you should use an insect repellant that includes DEET, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants outdoors, make sure your window screens are in good repair to keep out mosquitoes. You should also get rid of the standing water on your property where mosquitoes can spawn.
Those measures can also help prevent other mosquito-borne illnesses, like West Nile virus.
Press release by Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development