RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia officials are reporting the state's first 2015 case of West Nile virus in a horse.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says the 5-year-old Choctaw mare from Orange County had not been vaccinated for the mosquito-borne disease.
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Mosquitoes can pick up the virus from infected birds and transfer it to humans, horses and other mammals. No drugs exist for treatment, and the mortality rate in horses is about 30 percent.
Continuous mosquito control can minimize risk of exposure.
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