Can I catch West Nile virus from an infected person or horse?
As far as anyone can tell, the only way to get West Nile virus is to be bitten by an infected mosquito. There is no evidence of person-to-person, animal-to-animal or animal-to-person transmission of the disease. People and horses are considered “dead-end hosts” because the virus doesn’t build up in the bloodstream enough to be picked up by another creature. How does West Nile virus compare with Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE)? Both are transmitted by mosquitoes and both cause encephalitis — an inflammation of the brain. EEE is more rare and more deadly than West Nile. EEE is carried by many species of swamp-breeding mosquitoes, but usually not by those that bite humans. Even when it does invade the people-biting species, the virus seems to have trouble getting a foothold in the human body. So it is extremely rare for a person to get sick from EEE; there are only about 5 to 10 cases in the entire nation each year. The last Rhode Island case was in 1998. But when EEE makes someone sic
