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09/17/2019 12:00 AMLast month, mosquitoes in Madison and Killingworth tested positive for the rare eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus, a potentially deadly disease that affects horses, birds, and occasionally humans. Both towns issued press releases on Sept. 3, urging residents to be cautious and avoid areas where mosquitoes are prevalent.
There has only been a single human case of EEE in Connecticut since 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Symptoms of the more serious manifestations of the disease include fever, vomiting, restlessness, and convulsions.
Madison Director of Health Trent Joseph acknowledged the potential dangers of the virus, but said that the town is continuing to take preventative steps and residents being away of risk factors would do a great deal toward keeping everyone safe.
“This has been somewhat new to Connecticut,” said Joseph. “The best thing we can do is continue what we’re doing.”
EEE can only be transmitted to humans by mosquito bite, and so most preventative efforts focus on reducing the number of mosquitoes as well as resident’s exposure to them.
In Killingworth, the town is closing its transfer station at 6 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to avoid the hour before sunset, for as long as the mosquitoes are active. The transfer station will open an extra hour on Saturdays, until 3 p.m.
The particular species of mosquito that tested positive in Madison does not bite humans. Joseph said that Madison has carried a comprehensive mosquito control program for approximately 30 years, using the services of a company called Innovative Mosquito Management.
Kurt Ehrhart, the owner of Innovative Mosquito Management, said an isolated EEE case in a non-human biting mosquito “shows up almost every year,” and doesn’t usually merit anything more than the regular vigilance and education of the town’s programs.
Ehrhart said a lot of the most important work keeping Madison safe from these sorts of diseases starts in the spring, when the town begins treating its water with a specially targeted bacterial spore that kills the larvae of mosquitoes and black flies, but has no known negative effects on other insect or animal species.
These treatments have successfully kept the populations of human-biting, daytime mosquitoes to an absolute minimum- two species in particular, Ehrhart referenced, that can fly 20 miles from their spawning grounds and potentially carry diseases like EEE.
Joseph said other preventive measures the town takes include reducing locations where there is standing, stagnant water such as old swimming pools, and maybe most important, educating the public.
“The best thing is always education, as education is prevention,” said Joseph. “The more information [people] have...they have more of an increased perception of [their] susceptibility.”
Not understanding the patterns, vectors, and risks is often what puts people in the path of diseases like EEE. Because daytime species of mosquito are kept in check, staying inside and away from mosquito-populated areas at dusk and dawn, securing windows and screens at night, and using mosquito repellent when necessary are some of the most important things residents can do to stay safe, according to Joseph.
If there is a potential area where a population of mosquitoes creates a safety hazard or a nuisance, after studying the particular location, Joseph said he and Ehrhart would consider using a sprayed insecticide. Both emphasized, however, that preventive measures were always the primary way to deal with insects and diseases, and spraying was always a last resort.
Joseph said that there had been no location where the town sprayed or considered spraying for mosquitoes this year, though last year they did—not in response to disease concerns, but because the insects had become an excessive nuisance to some residents.
Joseph said this year, some residents had expressed concern about high school sports, and teenagers practicing in the evenings out on the field. Those locations were determined to be safe, he said.
“It’s alarming because its a rare and serious disease,” said Joseph. “But from the standpoint of the health department and the mosquito management program, we’re going to continue our efforts...nothing new, we just more prominently introduce the education out there.”
For more information on EEE and preventive measures, visit www.madisonct.org.