CNY man with deadly mosquito-borne illness serves as a reminder.
A plane sprays for mosquitoes in 2004 as it flies over the Cicero Swamp. An Onondaga County man infected with Eastern Equine Encephalitis may have caught the virus in an area that had already been sprayed to kill mosquitoes carrying the potentially fatal disease.
That’s why it’s important for Central New Yorkers to know that spraying alone will not protect them and that they should take the disease seriously, said Dr. Cynthia Morrow, Onondaga County’s health commissioner.
“People have a false sense of assurance that, if you spray, everything is good,” Morrow said. “It may slightly decrease the risk, but it does not eliminate the risk. It’s really important for people to do whatever they can to protect themselves from mosquito bites.”
Human cases of EEE are rare. There have been only nine cases nationwide so far this year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But EEE is one of the most serious mosquito-borne diseases.
About one-third of people infected with the virus die. Most survivors suffer significant brain damage. There is no specific treatment for EEE, nor is there a human vaccine.
Symptoms can range from a mild flu-like illness to sudden fever, muscle pains and a headache that’s often followed quickly by seizures and coma. Symptoms can appear within five to 15 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. EEE is diagnosed through blood or spinal fluid tests.
Those older than 50 or younger than 15 are at greatest risk.
People can reduce their risk of being infected by using insect repellent, wearing protective clothing and staying indoors when mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk.
Central New York is a hot spot for EEE activity. There have been three reported EEE deaths in New York state over the past 39 years, all of them involving Central New Yorkers. An Oswego County resident died of EEE last year. The other cases were a 7-year-old Camillus boy who died in 1983 and an Oswego County boy who died in 1971.
Freshwater swamps are prime breeding grounds for EEE-infected mosquitoes.
“We just happen to have some big swamps right near us, and our big problem is we have a lot of people who live right on the edge of the swamps,” said Dr. Lawrence Abrahamson, an entomologist and senior researcher at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse.
The Cicero Swamp is a hotbed of EEE-infected mosquitoes. EEE also has been found at Oneida Shores Park, in Cicero; Toad Harbor Swamp, in Oswego; on the north shore of Oneida Lake; and in western Oneida County.
Abrahamson said the virus tends to build up in mosquitoes that bite birds. Then other types of mosquitoes that feed on birds transmit the virus to humans and other animals, he said. Two horses in Oswego County were euthanized in recent weeks after getting the virus.
Also:
- Several species of mosquitoes can become infected with EEE.
- The virus is only spread by mosquitoes.
- The risk of getting EEE is greatest from late July through September.
- EEE-infected mosquitoes can travel up to five miles.
“If you live 15 to 20 miles away from the swamp, your chances of getting infected are much lower than someone who lives or plays within a five-mile radius of the hot zones,” Morrow said.
EEE has been found in recent weeks in Onondaga, Oswego, Madison and Oneida counties.
Oswego and Oneida counties sprayed. Onondaga County planned to spray the Cicero Swamp on Tuesday evening but called it off because it was too windy; the county plans to try again today.
Morrow said the Onondaga County resident who was hospitalized with EEE had spent time outdoors in a nearby community outside Onondaga County where the presence of EEE-infected mosquitoes had prompted aerial spraying earlier this summer.
Morrow declined to identify the man or to disclose any information about his condition. She also refused to identify the nearby community where the man is believed to have become infected.
Contact James T. Mulder at 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com.