BOSTON – Heading into Labor Day weekend, multiple towns in Massachusetts are facing critical or high risk levels of the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis , or EEE. A map published by the state’s Department of Public Health shows the EEE threat for every community in the state.
EEE cases in Massachusetts
Massachusetts on Thursday reported its second human case of EEE in a woman in her 30s. She contracted the virus in Plymouth County, before the area was aerial sprayed for mosquitos. A EEE case in a horse was also confirmed there.
Many towns around Plymouth have a EEE risk level of moderate or high, according to the map. And some towns in southern Worcester County are at a critically high risk of EEE because a man in his 80s was infected with EEE there.
Earlier this week, 41-year-old Steven Perry from Hampstead, New Hampshire – not far from the Massachusetts border – died from EEE. His family said he had no underlying health conditions but developed severe central nervous system disease and died days later.