Several Massachusetts cities have taken action to combat the spread of a deadly mosquito-borne virus after a man was hospitalized with it — here’s everything we know so far.
Last week, it was announced that a man in his 80s had contracted Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis (EEE), a rare and dangerous disease that kills about 30 percent of those infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is in the hospital and “courageously” battling the virus, Oxford City Manager Jennifer Callahan wrote in a memo, according to the Associated Press.
Oxford is one of four Massachusetts towns, along with Douglas, Sutton and Webster, considered “critically at risk.” They urged residents to stay away from the outdoors during peak mosquito bite times. People there should end all outdoor activities by 6 p.m. through Sept. 30, state health officials said, and after that date they should try to stay indoors by 5 p.m. until the first hard frost.
In the town of Plymouth, about 40 miles southeast of Boston, where a horse was infected with the disease, all outdoor recreational facilities are now closed from dusk to dawn daily. Across Massachusetts, people have been advised to use mosquito repellent outdoors and to drain standing water around their homes.
AP
The family of the infected man, the first human case identified in Massachusetts since 2020, reached out to Callahan to share a message with the public.
“They want to make people aware that this is an extremely serious illness with terrible physical and psychological consequences, regardless of whether the person survives,” she said.
Callahan continued to urge people to take public health advice seriously and protect themselves.
Massachusetts experienced an EEE outbreak in 2019 that resulted in six deaths among 12 confirmed cases. The following year, there were five more cases and one more death.
Those who survive the disease are often left permanently disabled and only a few recover fully.
According to the CDC, only a few cases of EEE are reported in the United States each year. They usually occur in late spring and fall in subtropical areas, such as the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico. The insects lay their eggs in or near water, so EEE-transmitting mosquitoes most often lurk in swampy areas.
Because the disease is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, anyone who enters an area where such mosquitoes are present is at risk.
If you are bitten and infected, it can take between four and ten days for symptoms to appear. These include headache, chills, vomiting, and high fever. There are no vaccines or treatments for EEE.
