By: Rusty Brooks
A deadly mosquito-borne virus is spreading in New Jersey, where two new cases of the disease have been confirmed, according to The NY Post
The New Jersey Department of Health said that the pair of cases of the Eastern equine encephalitis were detected in Union and Atlantic counties over the weekend, Patch reported.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE)is one of several New World encephalitis viruses. It is also what is known as an arbovirus — viruses that are spread by a mosquito or other arthropod. West Nile is another kind of arbovirus, STAT reported.
The virus is found in the northeast of the country as well as along the Great Lakes and the Gulf Coast. It is also occasionally found in Canada; there has been at least one human case reported in Ontario, in 2016.
STAT News reported: Some people have mild, flu-like illness when they become infected, said Marc Fischer, a medical epidemiologist with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s arboviral disease branch, located at Fort Collins, Colo.
But about 20% of the people infected develop clinical illness and about half of them develop neuroinvasive disease — in which the virus moves into and inflames the brain, triggering encephalitis.
It can start with the sudden onset of a headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting, and lead to disorientation and seizures.
The death rate is high: About a third of EEE patients who develop encephalitis die. And survivors of severe EEE often have lasting side effects, including mild to severe brain damage.
“It is the highest case fatality of all of the arboviruses that occur in the United States,” Fischer said.
The new cases come after a Somerset County man was hospitalized last month for the dangerous illness, NY Post reported.
The symptoms of EEE include a high fever, stiff neck, headache and lack of energy, health officials said. The symptoms typically show up three to 10 days after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito.
Even with recent reports of EEE, this virus is rare. According to STAT news: =from 2009 to 2018, 21 states recorded 72 human EEE cases, the CDC reports. Most had only single cases during that decade; Florida (13), Massachusetts (10), New York (8), Michigan and North Carolina (7), and Georgia (6) are the only states to have recorded more than a handful of human cases over that period.
Another report has come out of Pennsylvania. WGAL reported EEE was confirmed in Erie, Carbon and Monroe counties, officials said. The cases include a wild turkey, pheasants and horses.
EEE is carried by birds. If a mosquito bites an infected bird, the insect can transmit the virus to humans, horses and other birds.
