New Yorkers have been placed on high alert after the state’s first death in a decade from an extremely rare but severe mosquito-borne disease.
Gov Kathy Hochul announced that a person in Ulster County, 70 miles west of the Connecticut border, had died from Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).
It is the second fatality to take place in the US this year, the first being a 41-year-old man in New Hampshire who died in August.
The disease is spread by infected mosquitos that kill around a third and up to half of their victims, often due to severe brain inflammation leading to seizures, headaches, and brain death.
New York state parks will now make mosquito repellent available to visitors, post signs raising awareness of the disease, and consult with health departments about setting park hours and limiting activity at times of the day when mosquito activity is highest.
Multiple different species of mosquito can transmit this virus, but one common kind is the cattail mosquito, whose scientific name is Coquilleta perturbans. This bug is found across the Eastern and Midwestern United States
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This year, cases of the disease in humans have also been reported in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
An unusually high number of cases have been reported across the US this year. And while infection is rare, there is no vaccine to protect against it.
Gov Kathy Hochul addressed the death on September 20 but offered limited details about the patient is it is still ‘being investigated by the Ulster County Department of Health.’
She added: ‘Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority.
‘Following the first confirmed human case of EEE, my administration took statewide action to help protect communities – and with today’s declaration, we’re making more State resources available to local departments to support their public health response.’
Many people infected with EEE will not show symptoms because their immune systems can fight the virus off.
Only four to five percent of people infected with the EEE virus develop serious illness.
But people under 15 and over 50 are typically not as lucky. Young and old people have relatively weaker immune systems than other adults.
Those groups are also more susceptible to the severe neurological effects of infection because their blood-brain barrier, the protective layer around the brain that protects it from infections, is either still developing or deteriorating due to aging.
Only a few cases are reported yearly, but the annual case count can vary.
In 2019, the US saw the largest outbreak in around 50 years, with 38 cases and 19 deaths compared to the typical seven severe cases annually.
It cannot be spread from person to person, only through a bite from an infected mosquito. Signs point to increasing numbers of infected mosquitoes circulating New York. Infected insects have been found in 15 New York counties this year, compared to the typical two to three yearly.
State Health Commissioner Dr James McDonald said: ‘Eastern equine encephalitis is different this year.
‘While we normally see these mosquitoes in two to three counties each year, this year they have been in 15 counties so far, and scattered all over New York State. This life-threatening mosquito-borne disease has no commercially available human vaccine and must be taken seriously. Mosquitoes, once a nuisance, are now a threat.’
New York is not the only state on alert. In Massachusetts, 10 of the state’s 14 counties have been warned about the increased prevalence of mosquitoes and placed under curfews.
The town of Plymouth, for instance – home to 60,800 residents about 40 miles from Boston – will close outdoor recreation areas from dusk until dawn every day because a horse in the town tested positive for the virus.
Vermont also postponed public events, including nighttime festivals and concerts, to curb the spread of the deadly virus. State health officials ‘strongly recommend[s]’ that people in some of the state’s busiest towns stay inside between 6 pm and 6 am, when the bugs are most active.
August marked the first human case of the mosquito-borne illness in Vermont since 2012.
Mosquitoes will remain a public health nuisance until around mid-October, when the season ends.
