New Hampshire resident dies after testing positive for mosquito-borne encephalitis virus – The Oakland Press

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press

A New Hampshire resident infected with mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus has died, state health officials said.

The Hampstead resident’s infection was the first in the state in a decade, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday. The resident, whom the department only identified as an adult, had been hospitalized due to severe central nervous system symptoms, the department said.

About one-third of people who develop encephalitis from the virus die from the infection, and survivors can suffer lifelong mental and physical disabilities. There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment available for the infections, which can cause flu-like symptoms and lead to severe neurological illness along with inflammation of the brain and membranes surrounding the spinal cord.

“When it does cause an infection, it’s very, very serious. Even though it’s a very rare infection, we don’t have a treatment for it,” said Dr. Richard Ellison, an immunologist and infectious disease specialist at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. “Once someone gets it, all we can do is provide supportive care, and it can kill people.”

Nationwide, the incidence of Eastern equine encephalitis can vary from year to year. There are typically about 11 human cases in the U.S. per year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were seven cases nationwide last year, but more than 30 in 2019, which was a historically bad year in which at least a dozen patients died, according to federal data.

The 2019 outbreak included six deaths among 12 confirmed cases in Massachusetts, and the outbreak continued the following year with five more cases and another death. Two of the three people infected in New Hampshire in 2014 died.