TY - JOUR AU - Bunning, Michel AU - Bowen, Richard AU - Cropp, C. Bruce AU - Sullivan, Kevin AU - Davis, Brent AU - Komar, Nicholas AU - Godsey, Marvin AU - Baker, Dale AU - Hettler, Danielle AU - Holmes, Derek AU - Biggerstaff, Brad AU - Mitchell, Carl T1 - Experimental Infection of Horses with West Nile virus T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 4 SP - 380 SN - 1080-6059 AB - A total of 12 horses of different breeds and ages were infected with West Nile virus (WNV) via the bites of infected Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Half the horses were infected with a viral isolate from the brain of a horse (BC787), and half were infected with an isolate from crow brain (NY99-6625); both were NY99 isolates. Postinfection, uninfected female Ae. albopictus fed on eight of the infected horses. In the first trial, Nt antibody titers reached >1:320, 1:20, 1:160, and 1:80 for horses 1 to 4, respectively. In the second trial, the seven horses with subclinical infections developed Nt antibody titers >1:10 between days 7 and 11 post infection. The highest viremia level in horses fed upon by the recipient mosquitoes was approximately 460 Vero cell PFU/mL. All mosquitoes that fed upon viremic horses were negative for the virus. Horses infected with the NY99 strain of WNV develop low viremia levels of short duration; therefore, infected horses are unlikely to serve as important amplifying hosts for WNV in nature. KW - West Nile virus KW - flavivirus KW - arbovirus KW - horses KW - equine KW - New York KW - Aedes albopictus KW - United States DO - 10.3201/eid0804.010239 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/4/01-0239_article ER - End of Reference