Four US cities under curfew over fears of deadly virus
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Four US cities under curfew over fears of deadly virus

At least four cities in Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States, have implemented a curfew after the discovery last week of a human case of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a potentially fatal viral disease that primarily affects animals, particularly equines – horses, donkeys – from which it takes its name. The virus had not been detected in the region since 2020, several American media reports.

Residents of Douglas, Oxford, Sutton and Webster (southwest of Boston) are thus asked not to go out at night from 6 p.m. until September 30, in order to avoid being outside at the time when mosquitoes are most active. And in Plymouth (southeast of Boston), public outdoor recreation facilities are now closed at nightfall. Health authorities also recommend protecting yourself with repellents, mosquito nets and long clothing.

EEE, a serious but rare disease caused by the bite of a mosquito infected with the “Eastern Alphavirus,” manifests itself by fever, headaches, diarrhea and even convulsions. Its most serious complication is an inflammation of the brain that causes serious after-effects, particularly neurological and cognitive. About 30% of infected patients die from it. The patient diagnosed last week, an 80-year-old Oxford resident, is still hospitalized, a city official told Fox News.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 17 human cases of EEE were reported in Massachusetts between 2019 and 2020, resulting in seven deaths. “There is no vaccine to prevent and no medication to treat Eastern equine encephalitis,” the CDC says. The disease has never been detected in Europe, according to the Equine Pathology Epidemiological Surveillance Network.

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