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Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis

A form of mosquito-borne equine encephalomyelitis found in parts of south America, Panama, and Trinidad, caused by the venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus (a species of alphavirus in the family togaviridae), and characterised by less central nervous system involvement than occurs in either eastern or western equine encephalomyelitis; fever, diarrhoea, and depression are common; in man, there is fever and severe headache after an incubation period of 2 to 5 days, and in a few cases there has been central nervous system involvement.