Friday - Sep 23, 2005
First Mammal in the County to Test Positive for the Disease This Year
Public Health learned this week that a horse in Champaign County has tested positive for the West Nile virus. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the horse was first reported to state authorities on September 20, and test results were released this week. A bulletin from the health department describes the horse as "symptomatic". No other details are available.
Horses, like humans, become infected via bites from mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. There have been no known cases of transmission of the disease from mammal to mammal, bird to bird, or bird to mammal.
Read the full press relase. (PDF)