On July 15, a new Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) case was confirmed in Jackson County, Florida. The 8 year old mustang mare had no known vaccine history and no recent travel history. Clinical signs began on July 6 and the horse was euthanized for humane reasons the following day.
This is the first confirmed EEE case in Jackson County and the twelfth confirmed case in Florida for 2016.
The eleven other EEE cases were reported in Jefferson (2), Osceola (2), Palm Beach (1), Polk (4), Walton (1) and Washington (1) counties.
No human EEE cases have been reported in Florida this year to date. EEE positive samples have been reported from 46 sentinel chickens.
EEE causes inflammation or swelling of the brain and spinal cord and is usually fatal. Symptoms include impaired vision, aimless wandering, head pressing, circling, inability to swallow, irregular staggering gait, paralysis, convulsions and death. Once a horse has been bitten by an infected mosquito, it may take three to 10 days for signs of the disease to appear.
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