Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a mosquito borne virus, has been found in a horse in Camden County and an entire flock of sentinel chickens in Currituck County. The horse is the first in the state testing positive this year. And the flock? That's the first time ever in our state a whole flock of these test birds has been infected. Chickens have also tested positive in Carteret and Craven Counties in recent days. Triple E rarely infects humans, but it can, attacking the nervous system and swelling the brain, often with lasting and devastating effects. When we say it rarely infects humans though, we do mean that. For example, in the last year on record at the Centers for Disease Control, there were only three reported human cases nationwide. Triple E remains a serious concern for horse owners, however. Owners are urged to vaccinate their horses against the disease, which has a 90 to 95 percent mortality rate.
