Two potentially deadly diseases spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes are on the rise in New England, prompting an alert by Maine health officials.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has warned health care providers to be on the alert for Eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus. The relatively rare but serious infections typically crop up at this time of year, said Dr. Stephen Sears, state epidemiologist.
“It tends to be into the last half of the [summer] season and into September. … There has been a lot of West Nile activity in the southern part of New England.”
Mosquitoes pick up the diseases from biting infected birds and then spread them to people.
At least 241 human cases of West Nile virus, including 144 severe cases and four deaths, have been reported in 42 states so far this year. It’s the highest number of serious cases through July since 2004.
Maine is one of the few states that hasn’t recorded any cases of West Nile this year, but the virus has cropped up in mosquitoes in neighboring New Hampshire, Sears said. Milder cases of the disease may have sickened some Mainers but weren’t diagnosed and reported to health officials, he said.
Only about one in five people infected with West Nile gets sick with a fever, body aches, vomiting and join pain. But the virus can cause neurological problems such as brain swelling that can lead to confusion, coma, seizures and even death.
Most of the cases of West Nile, which first appeared in the U.S. in 1999, have occurred in three states — Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
Health officials aren’t sure what’s causing the rise in West Nile this year, but suspect that the mild winter, early spring and hot summer spurred more mosquito breeding.
Eastern equine encephalitis is also on the uptick, showing up in Massachusetts this year. Planes flew over communities in the southeastern part of the state last month spraying pesticides to thin the mosquito population.
Research studies of deer indicate that Eastern equine encephalitis has reappeared in Maine, after killing a number of horses in the state in 2009.
“We know the virus is in the state,” Sears said.
The disease can also sicken people. The symptoms are similar to West Nile, but Eastern equine encephalitis can be more deadly, leading to death in 35 to 50 percent of cases.
There is no treatment or human vaccine for either disease.
Health officials are urging Mainers to avoid being outside at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active, and to use insect repellant while outdoors. The CDC also recommends installing or repairing screens to keep mosquitoes out and emptying standing water where bugs can breed, such as from flower pots, buckets and kiddie pools.
DONT LET THE SKEETERS GETCHA
Or the fear of skeeters, in this case.
Let us know how you manage to avoid mosquitoes. You might be whistling in the dark.
I avoid mosquitoes like everyone else. If I am outside for extended periods of time and they are an issue, ill apply some repellent, as most would. Although I use it as sparingly as possible. I just merely think the whole West Nile thing is blown way out of proportion. Ive never met anyone nor talked to anyone who has had a brush with it. Its one thing avoiding mosquitoes because of the annoyance of bites, its another to preoccupy yourself with them because of an irrational fear of a virus that has never been an issue in this state.
I love that last paragraph and the sentence above it… “be afraid” and “your kids are at risk.”
Its fear mongering. Remember Y2k? Yeah, nothing happened then either, but it didnt stop people from becoming scared and ordering thousands of MRE’s and bottles of water.
Well, I won’t have that! Next you’ll be telling me global warming isn’t real.
Actually, I think youd find that anyone with even a vague understanding of the planet would know that the earth has cycles. Hot, cold. It cools off, it warms up, only to cool off again. Its just how it is. Humans are not causing global warming, but we sure ain’t helping. That’s what id tell you, if you had asked.
It’s the rapidity of warming over and above the normal cycles that has climate scientists worried. Check out the article in the August Scientific American about collapse of several Antarctic ice sheets, some of which have gone intact through several cycles since theonset of the last ice age.
Entirely different risk analysis for mosquito borne dieseases and Y2K. Good to hear you do take precautions.
Double quick everyone, go spend a bunch of money on some stuff to protect yourself from the dreaded mosquito hoard that is doomed to kill us all…. despite the fact that no-one in Maine, to my knowledge, has ever died from West Nile, nor have there been any confirmed cases this year and the bug season is coming to a close….
But go spend some money on something you dont need, regardless. It’ll make you feel better about the fear they expect you to feel, about now.
Does it take a death to make it worthwhile? Even non-fatal cases sound quite grim. We should be using DEET and other mosquito aversion methods anyway. No “extra” money involved.
Forget the DEET, poison to you and environment.
Garlic!
Didn’t know we had vampire mosquitoes :) It would also be a good repellent for non-vampires.
DEET has a very low toxicity, to people and to the environment. It’s also the most effective repellent to most insects. It is a good solvent, so don’t spray it directly on plastics.
I can recall back in the 1960’s when we would summer in Maine and in the evening our parents and grandparents would bring out the cans of Black Flag or Raid and spray it through the house to kill the flying critters. I remember it looked like the fog had rolled in after they finished spraying. Killed ’em all every time!
I guess a little DEET won’t do too much harm.
All that spray never hurt ME none..(Cough, cough, wheeze!)
That was probably a pyrethrin or permethrin which are effective bug killers non-toxic to warm blooded animals.
A “health nut” friend of mine just read this article and sent me an e-mail stating DEET is an acronym for “Death Each and Every Time”. She is also terrified of all the artificial sweeteners as well as sugar. What a horrible existence to live in fear of everything each and every day.
I assume she didn’t have to live through the era of DDT and ‘Woodsman’s Fly Dope’ if DEET scares her. :)
Definitely a health nut and overly fearful. The toxicity of DEET is quite low. Her definition is non-factual to the extreme. It actually is used for DETA, the chemical name of which is N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide.
Everything, everywhere is always trying to kill you. Never leave the house.
Survival of the fittest-Insects have always been here and will adapt long after humans are gone.
My wife and I were just commenting to each other yesterday that the bugs don’t seem as bad this year as in years past. It’s been pretty dry this summer. I’d expect that to translate into lower insect populations, and as a result, lower numbers of infected bugs.