Two unvaccinated horses in Atlantic County were euthanized after contracting Eastern Equine Encephalitis, the second and third cases of the illness that have surfaced in New Jersey this year. The animals were an 8-year-old mare and a 7-year-old mini-horse stallion. All the infections of the mosquito-borne infection were in South Jersey; the previous case was in Cumberland County.
“These new cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis emphasize the importance of horse owners needing to vaccinate their animals to greatly reduce the chances of contracting EEE and West Nile Virus,” state Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher said.
EEE causes inflammation of the brain tissue and has a significantly higher risk of death in horses than West Nile Virus (WNV), a serious viral disease that affects a horse’s neurological system. The diseases are transmitted by a mosquito bite. The virus cycles between birds and mosquitoes with horses and humans being incidental hosts.
EEE infections in horses are not a significant risk factor for human infection because horses (like humans) are “dead-end” hosts for the virus.For more information about EEE in horses, visit the New Jersey Department of Agriculture web site at this link..
Most regions of New Jersey have a reported mosquito population at or slightly above the 5-year averages