Snakes Linked to Spread of Equine Encephalitis Vir

[ArkRescue]

" A horse, mosquito, and snake walked into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, "Is this some kind of joke?" Turns out, the bartender knows those three animals shouldn't be fraternizing because he read a recent article by Thomas Unnasch, PhD, proving snakes can harbor Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) and could play an important role in transmitting this deadly virus.

Like the West Nile virus, mosquitoes become infected with EEEV after a blood meal from an infected bird. If that mosquito then feeds off a horse, the EEEV can be transmitted to the horse."

The Horse | Snakes Linked to Spread of Equine Encephalitis Virus | TheHorse.com

 

[ArkRescue]

another article .....

"Last week a new study regarding Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) was published online (Bingham et.al.). EEE is a mosquito-borne virus that can cause serious, and sometimes deadly, disease in humans and equines. In warmer parts of North America, the virus is spread year-round, but in areas where mosquitoes get killed off in the winter it has been something of a mystery as to how the virus makes it from year to year. Humans and equines are both dead-end hosts, which means that a mosquito can not be infected from biting an infected person or horse. Researchers in Alabama found that wild snakes in the Tuskegee National Forest were positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV), which could explain how EEE was maintained after the first frosts killed off infected mosquitoes. Essentially, what would happen is that an infected mosquito bites a snake, probably during the summer or early fall, and the snake harbors the virus in its blood during the winter. Then, in the spring, an uninfected mosquito (which overwinters as a larva) bites the snake and acquires the virus. This now-infected mosquito can bite a horse or a human, who can then get sick. (I’m sensing a Chad Gadya theme here. Just me? Ok…)"

Eastern Equine Encephalitis: The Mosquito that bit the Snake

 

[ArkRescue]

and yet another:

"Scientists had wondered how a mosquito-spread virus that causes the deadly brain-swelling disease Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) — the one responsible for two deaths in Vermont this month — survives in eastern North America during the winter. Now, they think they know the virus's keeper: snakes."

Venomous Snakes Harbor Deadly Brain-Swelling Virus | Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) | LiveScience