Florida equine disease kills 2
Source: Agencies |
August 1, 2010, Sunday
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TWO Florida residents have died from Eastern equine encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease that is rare among humans but has infected a rising number of horses in the state, health officials said on Friday.
Both deaths were in the Tampa area, where a woman died on July 1 and an infant died on Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Health Department said. The disease known as EEE causes brain inflammation. There is no vaccine for humans.
"It's a fairly rare disease," said Steve Huard, spokesman for the Hillsborough health department.
Only a few human cases a year are reported in the United States, mostly in Atlantic and Gulf coast areas, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the disease kills 33 percent of its victims and survivors often have significant brain damage, the CDC said.
Hillsborough County has issued a mosquito-borne illness alert and sent a plane to spray pesticides to kill mosquitoes that breed in standing water, Huard said.
EEE outbreaks are not uncommon among horses in Florida during the wet summer months when mosquitoes proliferate.
Sixty cases have been reported among Florida horses this summer in several dozen counties, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson said.
Two cases of West Nile disease, another mosquito-borne viral disease, have also been reported among horses in Florida, though the CDC said the state has reported no human cases.
West Nile disease is usually mild in humans and most who contract it have no symptoms, although it killed 32 people in the US last year.
Mosquitoes carry the viruses that cause both diseases and can transmit them to both horses and humans, but horses do not transmit the viruses to people.
Bronson urged horse owners to get their animals vaccinated against both.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis kills 90 percent of infected horses, while West Nile virus has a mortality rate in horses of about 30 percent.
Both deaths were in the Tampa area, where a woman died on July 1 and an infant died on Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Health Department said. The disease known as EEE causes brain inflammation. There is no vaccine for humans.
"It's a fairly rare disease," said Steve Huard, spokesman for the Hillsborough health department.
Only a few human cases a year are reported in the United States, mostly in Atlantic and Gulf coast areas, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the disease kills 33 percent of its victims and survivors often have significant brain damage, the CDC said.
Hillsborough County has issued a mosquito-borne illness alert and sent a plane to spray pesticides to kill mosquitoes that breed in standing water, Huard said.
EEE outbreaks are not uncommon among horses in Florida during the wet summer months when mosquitoes proliferate.
Sixty cases have been reported among Florida horses this summer in several dozen counties, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson said.
Two cases of West Nile disease, another mosquito-borne viral disease, have also been reported among horses in Florida, though the CDC said the state has reported no human cases.
West Nile disease is usually mild in humans and most who contract it have no symptoms, although it killed 32 people in the US last year.
Mosquitoes carry the viruses that cause both diseases and can transmit them to both horses and humans, but horses do not transmit the viruses to people.
Bronson urged horse owners to get their animals vaccinated against both.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis kills 90 percent of infected horses, while West Nile virus has a mortality rate in horses of about 30 percent.
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