US : More mosquitoes found infected with EEE, West Nile

Via South Coast Today :

" Temperatures may be dropping, the air laced with fall, but new EEE mosquito positives prove the summer scourge is still on the wing.

The "risk continues," said Wayne Andrews of the Bristol County Mosquito Control Project on Wednesday, when the state announced 10 isolates of mosquitoes infected with eastern equine encephalitis or West Nile virus. Among them were a New Bedford pool testing positive for West Nile Virus and another New Bedford pool infected with both.

"Both of these viruses are serious issues and can present some serious health consequences and may not be, in many cases, treatable," said New Bedford Director of Public Health Marianne De Souza, who urged people to avoid getting bitten in the first place.

While concerned about the entire city, De Souza said that based on where the samples were collected, the local mosquito control project focused wee-hour ground spraying overnight on the areas of Hicks Logan/Riverside Park and Oak Grove Cemetery.

Also announced was that, at the recommendation of the city's Board of Health, the New Bedford Public Schools and Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School have canceled all outdoor athletic activities until Oct. 1, or until the heightened risk for mosquito borne illnesses has passed this fall season.

There was some good news Wednesday with word from the Rhode Island Department of Health that a Newport County man in his 20s, who has been hospitalized with EEE for nearly a month, had improved from critical to stable condition."