A horse in Jackson County, Florida, was euthanized this month after testing positive for eastern equine encephalitis, the state's fifth confirmed equine case of the year. Every one of those horses could have been protected by a licensed vaccine. No such option exists for the people living in the same counties.
That asymmetry is the least discussed feature of the most severe mosquito-borne disease in the United States. As CDC researchers stated in a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, although an EEE vaccine is available for horses, "no human vaccine is currently licensed, and treatment is supportive."
