Concord. In the US state of New Hampshire, a person has died after being infected with the rare mosquito-borne disease Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis (EEE). The state’s health authorities announced on Tuesday that the patient had previously tested positive for the virus. It was the first infection in New Hampshire in a decade.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
The resident, whom authorities identified only as an adult, was hospitalized for severe central nervous system symptoms, according to the statement. In 2014, three human infections with the virus were reported in New Hampshire, two of which were fatal.
US state takes action against Eastern equine encephalomyelitis
Previously, three cases of EEE in humans had been reported in the USA this year, in the states of Massachusetts, Vermont and New Jersey. Authorities in Massachusetts announced that they would use pesticides to combat the EEE virus, which causes the rare disease Eastern equine encephalomyelitis. After the disease was reported in Massachusetts for the first time in four years, the state health authority announced that pesticides would be sprayed from the air this week in the particularly at-risk districts. This is intended to contain the spread of mosquitoes that can transmit the pathogen.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
The symptoms of the viral disease include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness. According to the US health authority CDC, 30 percent of cases are fatal. Many people are left with neurological problems after recovering from the disease. There is currently no vaccine or medication against the EEE virus.
In the city of Plymouth, which is one of the areas particularly at risk, all public parks and green spaces are closed from dusk until morning. People in the ten Massachusetts counties at risk are asked to apply mosquito repellent, cover their limbs and spend as little time outdoors as possible during dusk.
