It's summer and with all of the wet weather many residents are starting to see the mosquito population increase.

With the increase in population, comes the increased risk for West Nile which can affect humans, birds and horses.

Unfortunately, cases of West Nile in horses has been on the rise through out the province.

Highview Animal Clinic Owner and Veterinarian Dr. Krista Gavel says they don't typically see any horses with the disease until later in the summer.

"West Nile tends to occur a little bit later in the year. It's transmitted by mosquitoes and tends to be towards the end of the summer in the end of August or in September where a majority of cases occur."

Gavel says symptoms are typically neurological.

"A lot of what we see are neurological signs like stumbling, the inability to walk, they can get muscle tremors or even an uneven gate those are the major signs that we'll see in our horses."

Last year the Highview Animal Clinic saw five confirmed cases of the disease, compared to the two cases they've seen over the past five years.

Luckily, Gavel says there is a vaccine for horses to protect them against the disease.

"We've been trying to get the word out on vaccination, because that's the only way to protect your horses from West Nile. We've seen an increase in our vaccinated horses, so hopefully that is going to help prevent another spike in cases that we're seeing."

Unfortunately there isn't a vaccine in place to protect humans from the disease.