A rare but deadly mosquito virus infection has Massachusetts towns urging vigilance

A uncommon however lethal illness unfold by mosquitoes has one city in Massachusetts closing its parks and fields every night. Four different cities are urging individuals to keep away from going outdoor at evening.

They’re involved about japanese equine encephalitis. State well being officers introduced final week a person in his 80s had caught the illness, the primary human case present in Massachusetts since 2020.

The city of Plymouth, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Boston, introduced Friday that it is closing public out of doors recreation amenities from nightfall till daybreak every day after a horse within the city was contaminated with the illness.

Meanwhile, state well being officers warned {that a} cluster of 4 cities south of Worcester—Douglas, Oxford, Sutton and Webster—are at “essential danger” after a person from Oxford caught the virus.

State and native well being officers urged individuals in these cities to keep away from the height mosquito biting occasions by ending out of doors actions by 6 p.m. till Sept. 30 after which by 5 p.m. after that, till the primary onerous frost.

They additionally advocate that individuals throughout Massachusetts use mosquito repellents when outdoor and drain any standing water round their properties.

Jennifer Callahan, Oxford’s city supervisor, wrote in a memo that the household of the person who caught the virus in mid August had reached out to her workplace.

“They need individuals to bear in mind that is a particularly severe illness with horrible bodily and emotional penalties, regardless if the individual manages to dwell,” Callahan wrote.

She mentioned the contaminated individual had usually recounted to his household how he by no means obtained bitten by mosquitoes. But simply earlier than he grew to become symptomatic, he advised them he had been bitten. She mentioned the person stays hospitalized and is “courageously battling” the virus.

Callahan mentioned the household is urging individuals to take the general public well being recommendation critically and to do their utmost to guard themselves.

The presence of the virus in Massachusetts this yr was confirmed final month in a mosquito pattern, and has been present in different mosquitoes throughout the state since then. In a 2019 outbreak, there have been six deaths amongst 12 confirmed instances in Massachusetts. The outbreak continued the next yr with 5 extra instances and one other loss of life.

There aren’t any vaccines or therapy for EEE.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that though uncommon, EEE may be very severe and about 30% of people that turn into contaminated die. Symptoms embody fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea and seizures.

People who survive are sometimes completely disabled, and few utterly get better, Massachusetts authorities say. The illness is prevalent in birds, and though people and another mammals can catch EEE, they do not unfold the illness.

The CDC says only some instances of EEE are reported within the U.S. every year, with most infections discovered within the japanese and Gulf Coast states.

© 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.