| West Virginia agriculture Secretary Gus Douglass is warning horse owners to protect their animals from the West Nile virus.
Douglass said a horse in Berryville, Va., was euthanized after contracting the disease. It was the first case reported in Virginia this year.
He said Berryville is about 15 miles from the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, a thoroughbred track in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
Douglass is urging owners to vaccinate their horses and eliminate sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed.
Horses can be vaccinated with two doses three to six weeks apart. But there is no treatment for horses that have already contracted the disease.
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