Report of Horse Death, possibly resulting from WNV Equine Vaccine

<x-flowed>WestNileVirus-L welcomes response to the following case report, from
Ft Dodge Animal Health and others:

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Subject: Fort Dodge WNV vaccine leads to death.
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 14:44:25 -0500
Thread-Topic: Fort Dodge WNV vaccine leads to death.
From: "Pursley, David" <dpursley@mgmt.purdue.edu>
To: <envrisk@cornell.edu>

Hello, my name is CPT David M. Pursley, located in Indiana. My horse
died on September 9th after receiving immunizations for WNV, EPM, and
Potomoc fever. On September 5th we trailered our two apparently
healthy arabian mares with no signs of WNV to the vets for
immunizations. Upon return home, approximately one hour after
immunizations, my five-year-old mare began to stumble and displayed a
sore neck (the locations of the shots). A few hours later the mare's
front left leg became partially paralyzed and she had trouble
standing. The vet was called to the house to check for signs of a
reaction to the drugs and she administered Dexamethasone, Banamine
and took a serology. The next morning the mare showed no signs of
improvement and became worse. A few hours later the mare had no motor
control of her front legs and became recumbent. The vet returned and
administered a catheter and my family and I began life support
measures for the next four days to include IVs with Dex, and Banamine
injections. The horse was conscious, able to nibble hay and drink
water when we could support her head up. She would have spasmadic
convulsions and would attempt to get up but her front end was
paralyzed. Her rear legs would kick and retained motor control. She
had no urine or bowel movements the entire time. She appeared
hydrated and alert with slight edema. It was a traumatic experience
for my family and our beloved mare of significant value with a
championship pedigree that we had high hopes for. We took our mare in
for preventive measures and she subsequently died.
The serology that was drawn the evening of the immunizations returned
positive for WNV. A postmortem exam was conducted by Purdue
University and a description of Histopathology follows:
Brain: The primary lesions in the sections examined were those of
multifocal non-suppurative encephalitis. Mulitfocally, large numbers
of venules both in gray and white matter which had prominent
endothelium contained moderate numbers of lymphocytes and a few
macrophages in the Virchow-Robin space. The neuropil exhibited
presence of scattered inflammatory cells predominantly lymphocytes.
Also present were a few glial nodules.
Spinal Cord: The pimary lesions in the representative sections of
cervical and thoracic segments of the spinal cord were those of
multifocal non-suppurative myelitis. Multifocally, large numbers of
venules both in gray and white matter which had prominent endothelium
contained moderate numbers of lymphocytes and a few macrophages in
the Virchow-Robin space. The neuropil exhibited presence of scattered
inflammatory cells predominantly lymphocytes. Also present were a few
glial nodules.
Stomach: The section had focal area of erosion. The tuncia mucosa
focally had superficial loss of epithelium, with mild infiltration of
neutrophils and hemorrhages in the adjacent area. Most likely caused
by the stress of being recumbent for four days.
No gross lesions were observed in the cervical vertebral column or
spinal cord. The National Veterinary Services Lab report did a PCR:
Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test
specific for WNV and eastern encephalitis (EEE) virus on the
submitted samples. Results: The sample submitted was positive for WN
viral RNA and was negative for EEE viral RNA. The mare tested
negative for rabies.

In my humble opinion, The Fort Dodge conditional vaccine caused an
acute hypersensitive reaction in my mare that led to her death. My
mare was healthy and accustomed to training and trailing. Based on
the IgM antibodies, the mare may have had WNV prior to receiving the
Fort Dodge vaccine but exhibited no symptoms and would most likely be
alive today if not for the vaccine.

Please advise the general public of these circumstances and provide
any guidance to me on how to proceed with Fort Dodge.

Respectfully, Dave
phone:765.491.2231

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