For what it's worth, some vets here have suggested vaccinating our horses. Almost none of us have done so. West Nile has been endemic here for ages. Many, if not most, of our horses have had it at some point, as have most of us, all with no ill effects. Reading some of the epidemiology research on West Nile has indicated that as it moves further and further afield from its origin, the virus itself changes somewhat, so we might even be vaccinating for a version that is not in the Nile Valley. I would certainly take a "wait and see" attitude about a vaccine that has been brought in so quickly for a virus that is actually not all that virulent. One of the things that one learns living in a bacteriological melting pot like Egypt is that it is impossible to avoid all disease and that most can be kept at bay by maintaining oneself and one's animals in a healthy clean environment with the proper food and supplements to maintain a strong immune system. When disease is seen as unusual rather than the norm, it wears a much scarier face, but the funny thing is that my kids have been sick more in New York than they ever were in Cairo. Go figure. It isn't as simple as it looks.
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani Cairo, Egypt [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ratbusters.net The West Nile vaccine remains completely unproven at this point. Ft. Dodge has been talking about doing challenge studies since last year but no word on results yet. Essentially all information on how the vaccine is performing so far is coming from data that Florida is accumulating on vaccine status of West Nile Horses. It became apparent very quickly that a single dose of the vaccine is not protective. The full series called for 2 injections three weeks apart. Vaccine use in Florida last year did not really get rolling until about the end of August. There were 20 confirmed West Nile positives in fully vaccinated horses, out of a total of about 180 cases, in Florida in the time period after the vaccine came into full use. That's 11%. In 2002, from January to end of March, 4 of the 14 positive or suspect cases were in fully vaccinated horses - 29%. There are three possible explanations for fully vaccinated horses showing West Nile symptoms anyway: 1. The vaccine didn't work 2. The vaccine didn't have time to work 3. The vaccine itself caused the symptoms If it works at all, it's not a strong protection, takes a long time to kick in and is lost very quickly. For example, if you start the series on June 1st, you have to wait at least 3 weeks for the second injection and about two weeks after that for protection - middle of July - and you can only count on it for about another 60 days. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
