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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced the state's first human case of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) this season Friday.
The person is an 80-year-old man who was exposed in Worcester County, state health officials said.
This is the first human case of EEE in Massachusetts since 2020. There were five human cases and one death that year.
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As a result, officials raised the EEE risk level to critical in the communities of Douglas, Oxford, Sutton, and Webster to critical, while also raising the level to high in Dudley, Northbridge, and Uxbridge.
The neighboring communities of Auburn, Charlton, Grafton, Leicester, Mendon, Millbury, Millville, Southbridge, and Upton are now considered at moderate risk, DPH said.
EEE is a rare, but serious and potentially fatal disease that is generally spread to humans through an infected mosquito bite.
The season's first EEE-positive mosquitoes in Massachusetts were announced on July 3rd from Carver, according to DPH.
There also have been EEE-infected mosquitoes previously identified in Abington, Halifax, Kingston, Middleborough, Plymouth, Wareham, and Whitman in Plymouth County, Taunton and Westport in Bristol County, Barnstable in Barnstable County, Dedham in Norfolk County, Sudbury in Middlesex County, and Amesbury and Haverhill in Essex County, officials said.
"The risk from EEE is high in parts of Plymouth County and critical in parts of Worcester County," said State Epidemiologist Dr. Catherine M. Brown in a statement. "In addition to recommending that people use mosquito repellent with an EPA-registered active ingredient and clothing to reduce exposed skin, we also recommend that evening outdoor events be rescheduled to avoid the hours between dusk and dawn. The mosquitoes most likely to spread EEE are most active during the dusk to dawn hours."
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