State Veterinarian urging vaccination of Horses in SC

With the return of the mosquito-borne disease season, Boyd Parr, South Carolina state veterinarian and director of Clemson University Livestock Poultry Health, urges horse owners to maintain current vaccinations on their horses. “We encourage horse owners to remember to have their vaccinations current for Eastern Equine Encephalitis or EEE, West Nile Virus and rabies. We were reminded strongly two years ago of the threat in South Carolina when we led the nation in deaths that were documented from EEE, it was 49 horses in South Carolina. Vaccine works and the public relations effort caused a lot more people to vaccinate their horses and last year we only had seven cases in South Carolina.” EEE is a mosquito-borne illness in horses that can also affect humans. Nine of every 10 horses infected with EEE virus die from the disease.