A horse in the city of Verona has been diagnosed with Eastern equine encephalomyelitis, a virus transmitted by mosquitoes that can also infect humans.
The Oneida County Health Department announced the first case of waste electrical and electronic equipment in horses in the county on Thursday.
It follows an announcement by the Madison County Health Department that a horse in the city of Sullivan was found to have died from electrical and electronic equipment on Monday.
“Do what you can to avoid contact with mosquitoes,” said Oneida County Health Director Daniel Gilmore in a statement. “There is no WEEE vaccine for humans, so it’s important to take steps to reduce mosquito numbers in your home and reduce your risk of being bitten by a mosquito.”
However, horses can be vaccinated.
Although cases of EEE are rare in humans, it can cause life-threatening complications, including inflammation of the brain. Symptoms include sudden, high fever, muscle aches, and headaches that become progressively more severe.
Electrical and electronic equipment in the state
As of Aug. 3, there had been only one case of EEE in the state in a horse — in St. Lawrence County — and no human cases of the virus, which can cause encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, according to a weekly mosquito surveillance report released by the New York State Department of Health on Aug. 13 with the latest statewide data.
And as of August 3, EEE had been detected in only three mosquito pools—groups of up to 50 mosquitoes collected and tested together—statewide, two in Onondaga County and one in Oswego County.
The state health department is also tracking cases of EEE in goats and emus, but no cases have been reported in the state so far this year.
Mosquito monitoring
Not all counties in the state conduct mosquito surveillance. However, Oneida, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties do. And Madison County officials said the county will step up its surveillance program in light of the recent horse death by setting up another mosquito trap in the city of Sullivan.
Monitoring is also being conducted in three western New York State counties (Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Erie), the three southernmost counties of the Hudson Valley, all five counties of New York City and Long Island.
West Nile virus
EEE is not the most common mosquito-borne virus in New York. West Nile virus is much more common, although the vast majority of infected mosquito colonies are located in the southern part of the state.
Rockland County warned citizens in a July 31 press release that there had been a sharp increase in infected mosquitoes because West Nile virus had been detected in half of the swimming pools tested in the previous two weeks.
And New York City issued a health alert on July 17, saying that West Nile virus had appeared in 325 mosquito swarms since it first appeared on June 5. That’s the earliest the virus has ever been detected in the city. West Nile activity typically peaks in August and September.
According to the state Department of Health, West Nile virus has been detected in 157 mosquito pools outside New York City so far this year, including two in Onondaga and three in Oswego counties, and 703 in the city.
However, there have been no cases in humans or horses. However, there have also been three presumed viremic donors in the state this year, meaning that blood donations – presumably from infected donors without symptoms – have tested positive for West Nile.
Not everyone who is infected with West Nile virus becomes ill. However, people over the age of 50 and those with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of developing severe illness, health authorities say.
Other mosquito-borne diseases
The state also tracks four other mosquito-borne infections: chikungunya virus, dengue virus, Zika virus and malaria. There have been no cases of chikungunya or Zika this year.
So far this year, there have been 56 human cases of dengue fever, including one in Onondaga County, and 29 cases of malaria, including three in Oneida County and two in Onondaga County.
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But none of the dengue or malaria cases were transmitted by mosquitoes in New York State, the health department found. All cases were linked to travel to areas with infected mosquitoes.
This is despite the fact that the invasive mosquito Aedes albopictus, or Asian tiger mosquito, which is known to transmit chikungunya, dengue and dirofilariasis (an infection with parasitic roundworms), is already native to 10 counties in the south of the state (the northernmost is Orange), according to the state health department.
However, the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti, which transmits not only yellow fever but also Zika, dengue and chikungunya, has not been detected in New York, the health department said.
Security
Health authorities urge the same precautions regardless of what mosquito-borne diseases may be present in an area:
- Try not to go outside at dawn and dusk, as this is when mosquitoes are most active.
- When outdoors, use insect repellent and wear long pants, long sleeves, shoes and socks.
- Drain any standing water in your yard and change the water in birdbaths at least twice a week.
- Repair or replace any broken screens in your home.
- Use larvicides in small areas of your yard where water collects. In Oneida County, the health department offers these in the Environmental Health Office on the fourth floor of the Adirondack Bank Building at 185 Genesee Street in Utica.
- If you have horses, talk to your veterinarian about EEE and West Nile vaccinations. Also, change the water in horse troughs and buckets frequently.
