What to Know About the Rare But Deadly Mosquito-Borne Virus Concerning U.S. Towns

TIME

A coastal town in Massachusetts is shutting its parks, playgrounds, and fields from dusk to dawn due to concerns about the mosquito-borne virus Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).

Transcript

00:00Eastern equine encephalitis, its short term is EEE, is a virus infection carried by mosquitoes

00:09that can cause, very rarely causes disease in humans. And when it does cause an infection,

00:17is very, very severe. Although it's a very rare infection, we have no treatment for it

00:24to do this. And if once someone gets it, it's just all we can do is provide supportive care

00:29and it can kill people. Well, this is a virus which is present in the environment in

00:38southern New England. So there are cases in Massachusetts, cases in Rhode Island,

00:44cases in Connecticut. Tends to be areas that where there were a certain kind of mosquito lives,

00:51that tends to be areas that used to be swampland that's been converted and less swampy now,

00:56but the mosquitoes still find good habitat. We don't see EEE activity every year in

01:02Massachusetts. It tends to occur in outbreak cycles. Our last outbreak cycle was 2019 through

01:082020. And what we have seen over sort of the last, you know, 10, 12 years is that we're starting to

01:19see increases of EEE activity outside of the historic hotspot. And we're concerned that that's

01:28due to a couple of factors, including some of the climate change, likely climate change effects,

01:36like a warming temperature, changes in migratory bird patterns, and changes in precipitation

01:44activity as well. So we work very hard to make sure people are aware of where and when EEE is

01:51happening and make sure they understand the steps that they can take to help protect themselves,

01:57including using a mosquito repellent anytime they're outside. When it's not super hot,

02:03you can use clothing to reduce exposed skin. And then in areas where EEE risk is very elevated,

02:11so not the entire state, but parts of the state, we make a recommendation that people

02:17avoid outdoor activity between the hours of dusk and dawn.

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