April 18, 2003
DVM Newsmagazine

EEE and WNV strike Florida

Tallahassee, Fla.-The state of Florida may have landed the first case of West Nile Virus in 2003, according to Leroy Coffman, DVM, Florida's state veterinarian.

Ten cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and one case of WNV have been confirmed by serological testing as of early April in eight Florida counties, adds Coffman, director of the state of Florida's Division of Animal Industry. This is the first reported case of WNV in Florida this year, and possibly the first in the United States this year.

Nine of the cases of EEE - six are confirmed dead - and the case of WNV were in horses, and there has been one additional case of EEE in an emu. The WNV case was confirmed in an unvaccinated 10-month-old Quarter Horse in Levy County. The horse died a few days after it started showing clinical signs.

EEE is a year-round disease in Florida. However, Coffman says this latest cluster of cases is not a good sign. In 2002, Florida reported 25 cases of EEE and 499 cases of WNV in horses. "This cluster (of EEE) is not typical unless we're going to have a bad year," he says. "It does not bode well. It looks like the Eastern (equine encephalitis) year is starting to get rolling worse than we would have hoped.

"The good thing is that vaccination can help that. People should practice vigilance and take precautions."