Maine has recorded the year’s first case of the potentially deadly West Nile virus in mosquitoes in York County. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating whether West Nile and another disease carried by mosquitoes called Eastern equine encephalitis may have infected two people, according to Dr. Stephen Sears, state epidemiologist.
Mosquitoes - A threat to humans and horses
Maine has recorded the year's first case of the potentially deadly West Nile virus in mosquitoes in York County and is also warning about the threat of Eastern equine encephalitis. Name
A mosquito collection site that the state regularly checks for both diseases tested positive for West Nile virus, Sears said. The results were confirmed Friday, he said.
“People need to be aware, but not alarmed,” Sears said.
EEE and West Nile virus are seen more often in birds, horses and other mammals than in humans, but people can be infected by mosquitoes carrying the viruses.
Maine has never had a human case of West Nile, but the virus is making a comeback nationally. Nearly 700 people in the United States have been infected with West Nile this year, the most since the virus first was detected in the U.S. in 1999. This year has seen 26 deaths from the disease.
Neither West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis, EEE. has been reported in Maine this year, but cases -- which can be fatal for birds, humans and other mammals, especially horses -- have been widely documented elsewhere.
West Nile virus has been found in parts of Massachusetts, and mosquitoes with the virus were discovered recently in monitoring pools in New Hampshire. The first case involving a human in Connecticut was diagnosed this week.
West Nile virus in New Hampshire, it's close to southern Maine and the numerous horse farms from Arundel to Durham. Plus, this summer's hot, often humid days, with periods of rain, have created favorable breeding conditions for mosquitoes.
According to Dr. Sears, he can't predict when West Nile will spread to Maine. "I can only look to the south and say, 'It's there.'"
With autumn approaching, it might seem that the risk will diminish, but Sears said the virus is often detected from mid-August through September, and even into early October.
The drought in the Midwest has been cited as a possible cause of the extensive spread of the virus, on the theory that mosquitoes that cannot find stagnant pools of water for breeding might be "migrating" beyond their usual territories and delivering the virus to new locations.
West Nile virus has caused alarm in several parts of the country, including Texas. On Thursday, the mayor of Dallas declared a state of emergency because of it and ordered the first aerial spraying of insecticide in nearly a half-century.
Nine cases have been reported in Ohio and, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus has spread into 43 states this year.
Almost 700 people have been afflicted nationwide -- the most since West Nile virus was first reported in the United States in 1999 -- and 26 deaths have been attributed to the virus.