Department of Health Confirms This Summer鈥檚 First Human Case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis
PO Box 360 Trenton, NJ 08625-0360
For Release: August 16, 2019
Judith M. Persichilli Acting Commissioner
For Further Information Contact: Office of Communications (609) 984-7160
Department of Health Confirms This Summer鈥檚 First Human Case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis
Residents Urged To Take Precautions Against Mosquitoes
The 樱花视频 Departments of Health (NJDOH), Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and Agriculture (NJDA) are urging state residents to take precautions this summer to protect themselves from all mosquito-borne diseases including Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare virus transmitted to people and horses by the bite of an infected mosquito.
The DOH has confirmed the first human case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis this summer in an elderly Somerset County man. The man was hospitalized but has been discharged for continued rehabilitation care.
To date, Eastern Equine Encephalitis has been detected in 22 mosquito samples and in three horses in the southern and eastern parts of the state.
Most persons infected with Eastern Equine Encephalitis have no apparent illness, however some can be very ill. Severe cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (involving encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain) begin with the sudden onset of headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting 4 to 10 days after a mosquito bite. The illness may then progress to disorientation, seizures, or coma.
Eastern Equine Encephalitis is one of the most severe mosquito-transmitted diseases in the U.S. About one-third of peop
