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I just got my copy of The Horse. It has a very good
article about WNV. On the vaccine, Dr. Long, who gave the presentation at FL
Univ. says absolutely get your horse vaccinated. It is two doses and the second
one can't be skipped. She says 80,000 horses in Florida were vaccinated and side
effects were rare.
The vaccine currently is under "conditional
approval status". According to Yu-Wei Chiang, MS,PhD of Ft. Dodge Animal Health
the vaccine provides significant protection against the viremia (presence of WNV
in the blood). They are close to full licensure and hope that they get the full
licensure before they need to renew the conditional license in August.
An added note from my observation. Last year when
this came about, our local county animal shelter really pushed the panic button.
Some of the info that came out in the media may or may not have been true.
However, the shelter offered free vaccinations to all horse owners in Pinellas
County. Many took advantage of the shots. The map that Dr. Long presented showed
that the virus had not yet reached our area of central Florida. Was it because
we vaccinated or just because the skeeter hadn't made it here yet? I don't know.
There were also many stories of horses that receive the shots and still got
sick. Did they already have WNV before they were vaccinated? Possibly.
Anyway, it is a good article and as up to date as
anything else I have seen.
Lisa Salas, The Odd fArm
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