United States: Plymouth, Massachusetts, has closed its parks and fields at night due to a high risk of a dangerous mosquito-borne disease called Eastern equine encephalitis. This rare and potentially deadly illness led the town, located 40 miles southeast of Boston, to take action, as announced by officials on Friday.
Disease Details and Risk
As reported by CNN Health, The disease infects man through the bite of a mosquito and the fatality ratio ranges 33/70 and majority of the dead occur after 2- 10 days of manifestation of the disease according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
“The EEE infection confirmed in a horse that was exposed in Plymouth first led to increasing the Town of Plymouth’s risk level for getting EEE to high,” the Town of Plymouth said in the release.
Local and State Response
The state confirmed the first human case of EEE this year and the first since 2020 after a man in his 80s got exposed in Worcester County to subsequently increase the risk level of the disease in other communities, the Department of Public Health stated in a statement on August 16.
“EEE is a disease that occurs infrequently but is a severe and significant health question for the general public,” added Massachusetts public health commissioner Robbie Goldstein in the release.
“We want to remind residents of the need to protect themselves from mosquito bites specifically in areas of the state which we are getting reports of EEE. ”About 30 per cent of people who contract EEE die and many survivors suffer from neurological conditions for the remainder of their lives, information from the CDC indicates.
The disease is very rare; an estimated 11 human EEE cases occur in the USA each year, according to the CDC.
Historical Context and Prevention Efforts
During a recent EEE outbreak in Massachusetts, United States in the year 2019 and up to August 2020, the state’s public health department recorded almost 17 human cases of EEE and seven EEE-related deaths.
There are some of the public health officials we can say the researchers and health experts and the Massachusetts Department of the Agriculture Resources announced plans on Saturday to spray aerially for the mosquitoes in the Plymouth County area and to conduct the truck-mounted spraying in the parts of the Worcester County and this is according to a news release.