08/23/06 West Nile in Washington

West Nile reported in Washington. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. An eight year old quarter horse has tested positive for West Nile virus. The horse in Yakima County, Washington started showing signs of central nervous system problems on Aug. 11. The mare, which had not been vaccinated for WNV, had not left the Terrace Heights premises during the current mosquito season. Last September, one horse in Yakima County was confirmed with the disease. Another horse in Thurston County and two horses in Snohomish County were believed to have contracted WNV in 2005 while in California. Dr. Leonard Eldridge the Washington State veterinarian says another horse may have had the disease. ELDRIDGE: That same premises or same area had a horse a few days earlier that was exhibiting neurological signs and was euthanized and no testing was done. And of course I didn't realize that until the practitioner had told me this history also. And it's a deal of doing the mosquito control, vaccination protecting your animals and yourself. West Nile virus is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito and can infect people, horses, many types of birds, and other animals. Humans cannot contract West Nile through contact with an infected horse and infected horses do not spread the disease to other horses or animals. Mosquitoes get infected when they feed on an infected bird. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. I know Fall is right around the corner when that fat September issue of Vogue magazine begins appearing in supermarket check-out lines. The magazine is packed full of advertisements touting labels like Lauren, Dior and Karan? But so is the whole grocery We are a culture obsessed with brands. We want them front and center on our vehicles, soft drinks, tennis shoes and even our meat , because the majority of us believe labels validate our purchases. Yet it is interesting that something we consume daily, produce, is one of the few categories least affected by branding. This is unfortunate because the label on an apple, or onion can tell you a lot more than the one on your jeans. You can tell what country it was grown in and often even what company. By reading the number on the label, called the price look-up code, you can learn if produce was grown conventionally (if it is a four digit code) organically if a number 9 precedes the four digits or if it has been genetically modified if begins with the number 8. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.