It's been a long, wet winter and spring and mosquito season is on the horizon. The lab at the Nevada Department of Agriculture has been testing mosquito samples from all over the region.

"We're looking for primarily for West Nile Virus, we also look for St. Louis Encephalitis and and Western Equine Encephalitis," said Laura Morrow, Animal Disease Laboratory Supervisor. "We receive pools of mosquitoes and each tube consists of up to 50 mosquitoes.  We take those and create one sample and we do molecular testing to determine if we have positive pools in our community."

There aren't any human vaccines for these diseases, but horses can be vaccinated, and the Department of Agriculture is reminding veterinarians and horse owners that now is the time to do it.

"West Nile can lead to neurological problems for the horse," Morrow said.  "Horses can die from it, and the same goes for humans; it's a very serious illness."

She says you can also mitigate the risk on your property.

"The other thing you can do for your horses is take a look at the property around the horse, the barns, make sure there is no standing water," she said.  "And the same thing goes for humans in their own homes -  look around the property and remove any standing water."

If these tests come back positive, the department will notify public health agencies.

"When we notify Public Health, it helps them with their future epidemiology investigations," Morrow said.  "So it's a good predictor when we see West Nile Virus in pools and in horses that there's West Nile Virus in those areas."

A lot of people infected with West Nile won't show any symptoms of the disease.

"According to the CDC, 80% of patients with West Nile won't have any symptoms," Morrow said. "Up to  20% will have mild or flu-like symptoms, and less than 1% will have serious illness, and they can die from it. So it's important for us to conduct this epidemiology work with our partner agencies and protect the public."

Information to help protect yourself from mosquitoes:  www.cdc.gov/features/StopMosquitoes

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