Thursday, August 28, 2014

And now for something completely different.. Mosquito vector illnesses!

No Lyme and no ebola..this time.

I live in central New Hampshire, USA and vector-borne pathogens we got.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis(EEE) has been found in New Hampshire mosquitoes. Again. Oh, we still have our old friend West Nile Virus(WNV) about, and whilst it can be a really nasty infection, EEE is far worse.

It looks like both of these vector-borne pathogens are here to stay.

Just yesterday aerosol insecticides were again sprayed as people will no doubt be out and about this weekend--it is a US national holiday weekend.

To the best of my knowledge no 2014 confirmed cases of either WNV or EEE infecting humans. In fact, I am unaware as to any WNV having been found in 2014 in the state via the usual sampling methods.

Since I live a hundred meters from a large, slow moving river I do not even bother with DEET repellant. I treat my boots and clothing with a very weak permethrin solution. Permethrin is good protection against mosquitoes, and is really effective against those small arachnids which shall not be named in this entry.

Enjoy the outdoors!

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