CNN
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A Massachusetts town has closed its municipal parks and fields to late-night visitors due to an increased risk of a potentially deadly type of mosquito-borne encephalitis, town officials said.
Plymouth, about 40 miles southeast of Boston, announced the closures Friday because the city faces a high risk from eastern equine encephalitis, an extremely rare disease, city officials said in a news release.
The disease can infect humans through mosquito bites and has a mortality rate of between 33% and 70%, with most deaths occurring between two and 10 days after symptoms appear, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
“The recent EEE infection diagnosed in an exposed horse in Plymouth initially elevated the city’s EEE risk level,” the City of Plymouth said in the statement.
On Aug. 16, the state reported its first human case of EEE of the year and first since 2020 after an 80-year-old man was exposed in Worcester County, prompting health officials to raise the risk level of the disease in nearby communities, the public health department said in a news release.
“EEE is a rare but serious disease and public health concern,” Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said in the statement. “We want to remind residents of the need to protect themselves from mosquito bites, especially in areas of the state where we are seeing EEE activity.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 30% of people infected with EEE die, and many who survive the infection live with persistent neurological problems.
The disease is so rare that on average, only 11 human cases of EEE are reported in the United States each year, the CDC said.
According to the state Department of Public Health, 17 human cases of EEE and seven deaths were reported during an EEE outbreak in Massachusetts in 2019 and 2020.
Public health officials and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources announced plans Saturday to conduct aerial spraying for mosquitoes in the Plymouth County area and truck-mounted spraying in parts of Worcester County, according to a news release.
As of Saturday, 10 Massachusetts communities had an EEE risk level of high or critical.
At least eight Massachusetts municipalities, including Boston, are also “now considered at high risk” for mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus, the state Department of Health said Friday.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for Dr. Anthony Fauci said the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was recovering at home after being hospitalized with West Nile virus.
