Third Mass. person dies from rare mosquito-borne brain infection; see state and county-level data on cases - Entrepreneur Generations

Incidence of EEE from 2009-2018 (CDC map; click to enlarge it.)

A third person from Massachusetts has died from a brain infection called Eastern equine encephalitis; seven other people have also been confirmed as infected in the state. 

"EEE is a rare but potentially fatal disease that can cause brain inflammation and is transmitted to humans bitten by infected mosquitoes, according to federal authorities," Danny McDonald and Abigail Feldman report for the Boston Globe. "Those who recover from it often live with severe and devastating neurological complications. There is no treatment."

This year's is the biggest outbreak since the 1950's, with more than 30 Massachusetts communities at the highest level of risk for EEE. It's not limited to Massachusetts: at least three people in Rhode Island have been diagnosed with EEE this year, and one of them died earlier in September, McDonald and Feldman report.

EEE is generally rare because the primary transmission cycle happens in and around freshwater hardwood swamps, especially in the Atlantic, Gulf Coast, and Great Lakes regions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An average of seven human cases are reported annually, mostly from Florida, Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2kKP51w Third Mass. person dies from rare mosquito-borne brain infection; see state and county-level data on cases - Entrepreneur Generations

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