Vermont
health officials are warning people who live in Pittsford and the surrounding
communities that they may be at increased risk for contracting eastern equine
encephalitis, or EEE.
Mosquito born illnesses, like
Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus are on the rise across the
country. The deaths this month of two Vermonters from Eastern Equine
Encephalitis have heightened concern about such illnesses here in Vermont.
The Vermont Health Department is planning to begin
aerial spraying as part of a broader effort to control mosquitoes in an area of
Rutland and Addison counties where two people were sickened, and one person died, from the state’s
first cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis.
Vermont’s first two human cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis
have been identified in Rutland
and Addison counties. And
now state officials plan to spray pesticides from aircraft as a way to control
potentially dangerous mosquitoes.