Boise (670 KBOI News) – West Nile virus is being found in mosquitoes across the Treasure Valley, and now it’s been found in a horse in Owyhee County.

It’s the first case of equine West Nile in Idaho this year. State Veterinarian Dr. Bill Barton told the Ag Information Network a common symptom of equine West Nile is facial twitching.

“Horses will have facial twitching, like much more than normal,” said Barton.  “A lot of it is called muscle fasiculation, in the muzzle or the nose area.  It seems to be more present in West Nile disease than in the other neurologic diseases, like EPM or equine herpes virus.”

Other symptoms include fever and weakness…in fact, the weakness can be so bad that horses won’t be able to get up off their haunches…Barton calls that “dog sitting”. But he cautions fever and weakness can also be symptoms of other diseases.

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