The first signs of West Nile are hitting the state a month earlier than last year. The state confirmed the first case of West Nile with a twenty year old pleasure horse in Madison County.

In Barren County, which has one of the highest horse populations in Kentucky, veterinarian clinics are preparing for the virus this year. Health officials are optimistic that the virus will be controlled this year. Agricultural Commissioner Billy Ray Smith says the unusually wet spring has created breeding grounds for mosquitoes which spread the virus.