Show fatal horse malady studied for effect I 1 on human human beings new fears that horse sleeping sickness which has already killed tens of thousands of american horses may also be transmissible to human beings were indicated in reports of a recent study by the american foundation for animal health the reports are based on deaths in minnesota texas and eastern seaboard states in areas where equine encephalomyelitis sleeping sickness has been prevalent in one of the eastern states two individuals who were handling horses afflicted with sleeping sickness were stricken with a disease that was identified as human encephalomyelitis one man died and the other recovered i in 1938 a number num berof of acute cases were reported among children along the east coast with an extremely high rate of mortality examinations revealed the presence 0 of f a virus which was believed to be the 61 eastern strain of horse sleeping sickness this was followed in the same year by the discovery of human cases of equine encephalomyelitis in minnesota these however were traced to a different strain of the virus the western strain still t 11 later similar reports were rec received ived from the pacific coast and this year fresh reports of cases in human encephalitis have come from minnesota texas and other states As a result authorities are warning that horse sleeping sickness may be transmissible to man although they are unwilling to say that this is definitely the case in fact horse sleeping sickness is still a highly baffling disease it kills thousands upon thousands of valuable horses every year yet veterinary scientists are still not sure of the exact means by which it is transmitted they believe it is passed on by the bites of mosquitoes and other insects the only known protection for horses to d date ate is by immunization this year veterinarians are vaccinating horses against the disease with a new concentrated form of a vaccine developed from chick embryos and report better than 95 per cent immunity in field usage however vaccination of this type should be done before a horse is stricken by the disease it is said authorities are urging that in areas where horse sleeping sickness is raging persons working with horses should exercise care in handling the animals and should be particularly watchful against mosquitoes qui toels and other biting insects insect |