Rare, deadly mosquito virus has New England town closing parks every evening
Health officials are urging people to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites, including wearing bug spray when outdoors. Homeowners are also asked to drain standing water and ensure screens on homes are tightly fitted to windows and doors to prevent mosquitoes from entering.
Rare, deadly mosquito virus spreading in Northeast
Verity Hill, Associate Research Scientist at Yale School of Public Health, joins FOX Weather to discuss Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus, including its symptoms and the steps you can take to help prevent it from spreading.
PLYMOUTH, Mass. – A high risk of a rare but deadly mosquito virus in a New England town has forced officials to close all public parks and fields from dusk to dawn, so crews can spray chemicals in hopes of killing off the pesky insects.
Officials in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, which is south of Boston, said the recent discovery of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in a horse raised the town’s EEE risk level to high.
FILE - A mosquito biting a person. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Other EEE-infected mosquitoes have been found in Massachusetts communities such as Halifax and Kingston in Plymouth County, Barnstable in Barnstable County and Amesbury and Haverhill in Essex County.
"As (Massachusetts Department of Public Health) has now elevated Plymouth’s EEE risk status to high, it is important to take extra precautions when outdoors and follow state and local health guidelines to avoid unnecessary risk to exposure to EEE," Plymouth’s Commissioner of Health and Human Services Michelle Bratti said in a statement.
The dusk-to-dawn shutdown of Plymouth’s public parks and fields began on Friday, and signs have been posted enforcing the message that no one is allowed to enter once the sun goes down.
NEW STUDY SUGGESTS CERTAIN COLORS YOU WEAR COULD ATTRACT MOSQUITOES TO BITE
FILE - Mosquito bite
(CDC)
According to officials, the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project has been continuously spraying neighborhoods and is also set to spray the public parks and fields starting early this week. Spraying for all schools in town will take place by midweek, officials added.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, EEE is a rare but serious and potentially fatal disease that affects people of all ages and is usually spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito.
The fatality rate for those who are infected with EEE varies from 33% to 70%, with most deaths occurring two to 10 days after the onset of symptoms.
Those symptoms, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, include fever, chills, body aches and joint pain. In some cases, neurological diseases can occur, including meningitis and encephalitis.
Health officials are urging people to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites, including wearing bug spray when outdoors. Homeowners are also asked to drain standing water and ensure screens on homes are tightly fitted to windows and doors to prevent mosquitoes from entering.