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FLORENCE, S.C. --

The rumbling of a combine with a hopper full of freshly harvested, golden corn in an Effingham field is a reminder of the great growing season the Pee Dee has had, with a warm winter allowing farmers to plant earlier to benefit from rains that lasted through the summer.

There are other beneficiaries of these conditions as well.

Among the most nefarious of them are mosquitoes who have not only been annoying, but have been spreading lethal diseases at the highest rates in three years.

Perhaps the biggest mosquito-born problem is Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). After a quiet 2011, the horse-killing disease has returned, with six confirmed cases of the virus in South Carolina horses this year. The Pee Dee has been especially hard hit. Two of the cases were in Horry County, one in Marion, one in Darlington and one in Kershaw. And with months before the first frost, experts predict this could be just the beginning of an especially bad year for horses, who bear the brunt of the attack from a disease that bears their name.

Its been a mess, said Dr. Karen Bolten, a traveling veterinarian with Carolina Equine Clinic South. And it usually gets worse later in the summer. My first case was in the beginning of June, and I foresee it continuing to be bad through the end of summer.

The virus kills nine out of 10 horses infected. Two to five days after a horse is bit by a virus-carrying mosquito, it will begin to show symptoms such as stumbling, circling, head pressing, depression or apprehension, weakness of legs, partial paralysis, inability to stand, muscle twitching or death.

Bolten is on the frontline of the fight against the virus and has seen half of the states confirmed EEE cases. The virus, which can eventually affect a horses neurological function, forced her to euthanize two and hospitalize the other. The third horse did survive.

Bolten recommends owners vaccinate horses twice a year for EEE due to their high exposure to mosquitoes. She recommends having a vet do the job as opposed to buying over-the-counter treatments.

There are a lot more problems with feed-store vaccines, Bolten said. The one woman had vaccinated with feed-store vaccine, and her horse still got it. Its not that stores are mishandling it, but they might not understand proper vaccine handling such as the proper storage temperature.

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Wet summer brings killer equine virus to Pee Dee