Health officials across the country are continuing to alert horse owners and the public to the dangers of mosquito-borne illnesses in both horses and humans including Eastern equine encephaltis and West Nile virus.
Continuing danger of EEE and WNV in horses and humans
Health officials continue to alert horse owners and the public to the dangers of mosquito-borne illnesses including Eastern equine encephaltis and West Nile virus.
In Louisiana, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry is advising horse owners to vaccinate their animals for Eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus.
Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said heavy rainfall from Hurricane Isaac could sharply increase the mosquito population in the coming weeks. Mosquitoes carry the diseases.
The diseases can cause inflammation or swelling of the brain and spinal cord.
In Newbury and neighborhing Newburyport, Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is citing tests of mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes Eastern equine encephalitis and uring residents to take precautions against being infected.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, mosquitoes of the non-biting culiseta melanura species were collected and positively tested for EEE on Sept. 4. The culiseta melanura species is not attracted to people or other mammals, rather choosing to bite birds.
EEE is a rare but serious viral disease spread by mosquitoes that can affect people and horses. EEE can also cause disease in captive birds, livestock, deer, dogs, other mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
A Worcester County man in his 70s infected with EEE died in late August, the first confirmed EEE death of the year in Massachusetts. Another case of EEE was also recently diagnosed, this time in the MetroWest area. Last August, two people contracted EEE, resulting in the death of a Bristol County man. Those two were the only confirmed cases diagnosed last year.
EEE activity in both 2010 and 2011 raised public concern and prompted DPH to work with a panel of experts to evaluate and enhance the state’s surveillance and response program.
Mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus, a less serious but still dangerous disease, were found in Newbury on four separate occasions last month, the most recent date being Aug. 22. On the same day West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes were confirmed in Newburyport, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The following week, mosquitoes on the east end of the city were the target of an aerosol ground spraying. Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control conducted an ultra-low volume aerosol ground application of an adulticide to control nuisance virus-carrying adult mosquitoes. Newburyport joined Amesbury and Salisbury, which already had sprayed their entire communities.
The West Newbury Board of Health will perform targeted spraying following discovery of a mosquito containing the West Nile virus in Groveland. Weather permitting, the adulticiding — or roadside spraying — will occur during the evening hours of today and tomorrow.
As of last week, there have been 155 pools in nine Massachusetts counties that have tested positive for West Nile and 129 pools in nine counties testing positive for EEE. So far this year, nine people have been diagnosed with West Nile virus statewide.