Municipalities are concerned about Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Health officials announced last week that an eight-year-old had contracted the disease, the first human case detected in Massachusetts since 2020.
The city of Plymouth, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Boston, announced Friday that it is closing public outdoor recreation facilities from dusk to dawn daily after a city horse was infected with the disease.
Separately, state health officials warned that a group of four towns south of Worcester — Douglas, Oxford, Sutton and Webster — were at “critical risk” after an Oxford man contracted the disease.
Local and state health officials have asked residents in those cities to avoid peak mosquito-biting times by ending outdoor activities at 18.00 until 30 September and then at 17.00.
Residents are also advised to use mosquito repellent when outdoors and to drain any standing water around their homes.
Jennifer Callahan, Oxford’s city manager, wrote in a memo that the family of the man who contracted the virus in mid-August had contacted her office.
“They want people to be aware that this is an extremely serious disease that has terrible physical and emotional consequences even if the person manages to live,” Ms Callahan wrote.
She said the infected person often told his family that he had never been bitten by a mosquito. But just before he became symptomatic, he told them he had been stung. She said the man was still hospitalized and “fighting bravely” against the virus.
Ms Callahan added that the family is asking people to take public health advice seriously and do everything they can to protect themselves.
The presence of the virus in Massachusetts this year was confirmed last month in a mosquito sample and has been found in other mosquitoes across the state since then. During the 2019 outbreak, six deaths were recorded among 12 confirmed cases in Massachusetts. The outbreak continued the following year with five more cases and another death.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Eastern Equine Encephalitis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that although rare, Eastern Equine Encephalitis is very serious and about 30% of those infected die from it. Symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea and cramps.
Those who survive are often disabled for life, and few make a full recovery, according to Massachusetts officials. The disease is widespread in birds, and although humans and some other mammals can get EEE, they do not spread the disease.
According to the CDC, only a few cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis are reported each year in the United States, with most infections occurring in the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico states.
