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The number and variety of infections that are zoonotic, i.e., transmitted from animals to humans, with or without an insect vector, appear to be growing from year to year. Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus that exhibits a natural enzootic cycle between birds and the Culiseta mosquito, which lives in freshwater swamps in the northeast U.S. It can be spread, however, to mammals such as horses and humans by the bridge vector mosquito species Aedes or Coquillettidia. The clinical presentation in humans starts with a generalized febrile illness that commonly progresses to include neurologic symptoms, with an associated mortality rate of about 30% and neurologic sequelae in about 50% of survivors.
The incidenc…