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West Nile Virus Update
September 2010 UPDATE: Although vaccine advocates will clalim credit for drastic reduction in WN cases, I still maintain that the virus has been reduced through the action of natural selection as much as if not more than from human intervention. Horses that survived the infection have lived to breed on and passed on their natural immunitites. Maybe it would have taken a bit longer and maybe the gene pool would have been slightly different if nature had run its course, but the fact is that equine west nile virus cases in the United States in 2009 totaled 276 cases. And cases reported to September 2010 = 27.
07/01/06 Update: I have not changed my mind about the vaccine since I first published this article in 2003. In fact, I am convinced that it has caused the infertility in all of my mares. I have not been able to get a mare in foal or to carry to term since I administered the 2nd-year booster. My preservation program has fallen flat because I can't preserve a bloodline if I have sterilized all my mares. Yes, I am bitter about it. This is the latest chart from the APHIS site. Of course Phelps Dodge will take the credit for the lower numbers, but it is my firm belief that the numbers reflect a course of natural selection and natural immunity rather than the result of "modern pharmaceuticals." Drugs that helped one local vet turn a profit of $50,000 in just one month. Of course your vet is going to tell you it works! I am leaving the original article so that you can see the evolution of my own conclusions.
[04/23/03] Well here I am putting on a 180-degree turn. I have been touting the virtues of the WNV vaccine and now I must reverse my position and say "HOLD ON" here a minute. Too many coincidences mean it probably isn't coincidental at all. Last year my easiest-to-breed mare reabsorbed/aborted her foal. The day after giving another newly foaled mare her WNV vaccine, her baby developed severe diarrhea and died a few days later. The one live healthy foal I did get was a difficult delivery and the filly was born with a deformed tail. Ten horses, ten problems. . . coincidence?
If it was just me I would, and did, say it was all just my bad luck. But having found the site below and reading the heart rending stories of other "coincidences" I have to say I no longer have confidence in the vaccine. I don't know how a killed-virus vaccine can cause these problems, but the same issues and much worse are showing up all over the country. These are first-hand accounts, not urban legend.
It is not an easy choice to decide between the evils of WNV and deformed babies [or sterile mares]. Read for yourself and you decide.
Following is the Colorado State University web site. Their site manager made this statement to me: "We are being very careful as to remain impartial and not appear to be promoting anything other than the personal experiences and facts derived from Colorado State University Veterinarians." http://newsinfo.colostate.edu/index.asp?page=news_item_display&news_item_id=685278003
As of March 17, 2004 the total HUMAN cases reported to the CDC since 1998 is 9388 resulting in 246 deaths. Of the 9388 cases, 6452 cases (69%) were reported as West Nile fever (milder disease), 2773 (30%) were reported as West Nile meningitis or encephalitis (neuroinvasive disease) and 163 (2%) were clinically unspecified. Although the CDC doesn't report it as such, I am guessing the 246 deaths resulted from the encephalitis cases.
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