A person in New York has been hospitalized with Eastern equine encephalitis, a rare but serious mosquito-borne illness, the state’s Health Department said Friday.
The infection was reported in Ulster County, around 100 miles north of New York City, and is the first confirmed human case of the illness to be recorded in New York since 2015. There is no vaccine for the disease, which is also known as E.E.E., nor is there a cure, and state officials are urging residents to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites.
Human cases of the virus have been reported in at least six other states this summer, most of them in the Northeast, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These include Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wisconsin.
The agency has recorded 10 human cases of E.E.E. nationwide as of Sept. 17, before the case in New York was confirmed.
Many people who are bitten by an infected mosquito never develop symptoms. Those who do may experience headaches, fevers, chills and vomiting. Severe cases of the disease can lead to seizures, comas and encephalitis, or swelling of the brain. Around a third of cases are deadly, and more than half result in long-term neurological complications.
Officials say the best way to prevent sickness is to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes. Some precautions they advise include wearing pants and long sleeves, applying strong mosquito repellent and staying indoors around dusk.
“Even though temperatures are getting cooler, mosquito-borne illnesses are still a risk, and New Yorkers must be cautious,” Dr. James McDonald, New York’s health commissioner, said in a news release Friday.
Mosquitoes will continue to be prevalent until the weather turns cold enough for standing water — where the insects breed — to freeze. That isn’t expected to happen until mid October in many parts of New York.
The virus has sparked fear in the Northeast this summer, prompting some residents in high-risk areas to limit their time outdoors and stay home after dark, when mosquitoes are more active. Massachusetts has been a particular hot spot for the virus, with four cases reported there, according to the C.D.C. In New Hampshire, one person died in late August after becoming infected with the virus.
Eastern equine encephalitis is considered endemic in North America, meaning infections occur persistently on the continent. In 2019, there were 38 recorded cases and 12 deaths in the United States — the largest outbreak of the virus in more than 50 years. None of those cases were in New York. According to C.D.C. data, slightly more than nine infections on average were recorded each year in the country from 2003 to 2023.
In 2015, the last time human E.E.E. infections were recorded in New York, three people in the northern part of the state caught the virus. Two of them died, according to local news reports.
According to the state’s Health Department, seven people in New York have died from the virus since 1971.
The virus is only spread by bites from infected mosquitoes. Humans cannot spread it to other people, nor can they be infected by sick animals.
As its name suggests, Eastern equine encephalitis also occurs in horses, where it results in death up to 90 percent of the time. In August, state health officials said that several horses in counties across the state had been infected with E.E.E. As of late August, at least two horses had died after becoming infected, one of them in Ulster County.
The virus can occur but is more rare in other animals, including dogs and cats. Two emus died of the virus in Rensselaer County, N.Y., in early September.
Eastern equine encephalitis is one of several mosquito-borne illnesses that have spread across the United States this year. According to the C.D.C., as of Sept. 17, 659 people nationwide had been infected with the West Nile virus, which is much more common than E.E.E. but less deadly.
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