Area

horse

recovers

from West

Nile virus

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Public health officials say a horse from western Brown County has recovered after an earlier diagnosis found the animal had West Nile virus.

It was one of 32 new West Nile cases reported to the Minnesota Department of Health over this past weekend.

Health officials said a change in testing methods recently caused a jump in the number of cases statewide. They learned the test used to determine preliminary symptoms could also confirm the presence of the mosquito-borne virus.

The horse in Brown County was the latest confirmed West Nile case in the area. The body of a crow found in Blue Earth County, five horses in Murray County and another horse in Lyon County are other examples of cases nearby. The Lyon County horse was euthanized after veterinarians were unable to save the animal.

At least eight horses have been euthanized. The virus is carried by mosquitoes and spread by birds to horses or humans.

So far, no human cases of the virus have surfaced in Minnesota although West Nile virus is blamed for the deaths of four people in Louisiana earlier last week.

Brown County Public Health Director Anita Hoffmann said her office received a call about the horse from a veterinarian's office near Springfield two weeks ago, but didn't get confirmation on the disease until late last week. Hoffmann said it is the only example of the virus she's seen in the county so far this summer, but warns it could pop up again.

"Mosquitoes have no boundaries," said Hoffmann. "They're just like birds."

Hoffmann quickly point out that Brown County isn't at any more risk than anywhere else simply because a horse got sick.

State health officials reiterated that the risk of actually developing the virus is very low. Dr. Kirk Smith, a public health veterinarian with the state Board of Animal Health, said West Nile has so far stayed confined to birds and horses this summer.

"Basically, there's lots of activity in birds and horses," Smith said in St. Paul. "It covers all corners of the state, but we've seen a fair bit of it west of the Twin Cities."

Smith said cases of West Nile in horses "run from Brown County up to around Moorhead" and doesn't have an answer as to why most of the horse cases are in the western edge of the state.

Counties and cities from all around Minnesota have sent the Minnesota Department of Health bird carcasses to test in an attempt to put a finger on an answer.

Smith said he "has a couple hundred birds in the pipeline," most of which are from the Twin Cities metro area. Hoffmann said Brown County contributed a sample a few weeks ago when it sent in the carcass of a crow.

Doug Schultz, communications representative for MDH, said the department's finding are on target with what its researchers expected.

"Generally, we're finding what we expected," Schmidt said. "Once we discovered West Nile, we expected a wide distribution throughout the state. We're finding what we expected to find."