WINTEC Pro Dressage Saddle
$569.00
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West Nile Virus Lingering
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The mosquito-borne West Nile virus continues to linger in the area, with the most recent discoveries of dead birds testing positive in Virginia and Washington, DC. One bird was discovered as late as November 1, bringing the total number of West Nile cases in Virginia and the nation’s capital each to five (5).
Pennsylvania has also experienced its own problems with the disease in the past two months, leaving 18 birds dead in Bucks, Cumberland, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, and York counties and positive cases among the mosquitoes in Chester, Lehigh, Philadelphia, Schuyhill, Union, and Wyoming counties. In Dauphin County, a 25-year old therapeutic riding horse was euthanized in late September after showing signs of suffering from encephalitis. A necropsy was performed and it was confirmed positive for West Nile virus.
Maryland had not reported any new cases since late October, and has documented a total of 50 crows that have died from the disease. Authorities have also tested over 85,000 mosquitoes, with negative results for all of them.
With dropping temperatures signaling the end of the mosquito season, health department officials from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and DC have determined not to spray insecticide in those affected areas. Rather, they will try to address the possibility of the virus overwintering.
Recent studies have also been conducted to understand how the virus has spread so far and so quickly, and experts suspect that these cases are not all attributable to migration patterns. Scientists point out that crows die and “end the cycle,” thereby becoming dead-end hosts. They are looking for a reservoir host – a source wherein the virus exists but often does not die – and think they have found it in the sparrow, which has been linked to previous West Nile virus outbreaks in Egypt (1950s) and South Africa (1970s).
After performing a series of tests on a variety of wild birds common to the Northeast region, they found that the virus levels were the highest in the sparrow and stayed in its bloodstream for the longest amount of time – up to five (5) days. While this finding helps to understand the virus’ strong presence in the region – the sparrow is populous in both rural and urban areas – it does not account for the entire mystery, especially since sparrows do not migrate.
Scientists will have to wait until the spring of next year to determine whether the virus overwintered in our area, what kind of impact that will have on the local wildlife, and what methods may be used to control and contain it.
MDhorse.com will continue to provide updates, as they become available.
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