The growing outbreak of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in humans and horses has health officials in many states concerned. In West Michigan there are now three confirmed human cases of EEE with 20 confirmed equine cases and another 50 suspected cases, according to news sources.
New England and the South are also under threat. Mosquitoes trapped in Connecticut tested positive for eastern equine encephalitis virus, the first EEE-positive mosquitoes identified in either state this year.
“Identification of mosquitoes infected with eastern equine encephalitis virus in eastern Connecticut is not surprising at this time of year,” Theodore Andreadis, chief medical entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said in a news release
The mosquito monitoring program will continue through October. Massachusetts has reported two human cases of EEE.
In Indiana, state health officials are urging residents to take precautions to protect themselves from mosquito-borne diseases. To date, West Nile virus has been detected in mosquitoes in 31 counties across the state. In addition, mosquitoes have tested positive for EEE in Elkhart County. EEE is almost always deadly to horses and is deadly to humans in 33 percent of cases.
