N.H. woman dies of Triple E By ANNE SAUNDERS Associated Press Writer CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- State health officials say a 20-year-old Newton woman died Friday of Eastern equine encephalitis.
This marks the fifth confirmed case of Triple E in the state this year but the first time someone has died. Health officials said the woman was taken to a Boston hospital on Sept. 3 with symptoms of the disease. An initial test was inconclusive, according to Dr. Jose Montero, the state epidemiologist. A subsequent test confirmed on Saturday she had the disease, he said.
"The death of this young woman is terrible tragedy," Health Commissioner John Stephen said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones at this difficult time. We are currently working to determine where she might have been during the past few weeks to understand where she acquired EEE."
Montero says testing of mosquitoes in the Kingston-Newton-Plaistow area have made it clear the illness has a foothold there.
"That is clearly an area where there's a lot of endemic activity and people clearly have to be careful," he said. Four other confirmed cases of the disease in New Hampshire involved people in Londonderry, Goffstown, Manchester and Concord. All four were treated at area hospitals and have since been released.
State health officials continue to advise people to wear bug repellant along with long sleeves and long pants and to empty any standing water on their property where mosquitos could breed.
"Eastern equine encephalitis typically manifests with flu-like symptoms initially of fever and malaise," Montero said. "The disease then frequently results in individuals having a severe headache and other neurological effects that result in a change in mental status."
Statistically, about a third of patients who contract the illness die from it. Two of three patients with the illness in Massachusetts have died this year.
Montero said New Hampshire had been unusually lucky until this death. "It is clear this is a deadly disease," he said. Health officials continue to watch for new cases of Triple E. They say the danger should subside as the weather gets colder, but Montero said it will take at least two good frosts to kill off the mosquito population for the year. That's unlikely to happen before October.
Officials observe the disease tends to operate in cycles and they're bracing for new cases next year. Montero said much remains unknown about how infected birds and mosquitoes interact to trigger outbreaks of human infection.
"For the next several years, local authorities need to plan how they're going to deal with this," Montero said. Health officials have set up a toll-free line for information on Triple E and the West Nile virus at 1-866-273-6453. The department also has information on its Web site at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov
Triple E virus found in more birds Published: Tuesday, Sep. 13, 2005 CONCORD (AP) – State health officials announced evidence Monday of the spread of a dangerous virus and again urged people to take steps to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
The state public health laboratory found the mosquito-borne Eastern equine encephalitis virus, known as Triple E, in four more birds, a horse and two pools of water, officials said.
“We are continuing to identify Triple E in new communities across the state,” health Commissioner John Stephen said in a statement. He recommended that residents take precautions, even in communities where the virus has not been found.
Stephen wants people to use repellants, wear long sleeves and pants outside, and drain standing water near homes.
The infected birds, found in Hopkinton, Salem, Nottingham and Plaistow, bring the statewide total this year to 32. The horse, in Kingston, was the sixth found to have the virus.
Both pools of water were in Andover. Five people have contracted Triple E in the state, including a 20-year-old Newton woman who died Friday at a Boston hospital.
Newton is just north of Haverhill, Mass.
Kelly Labell was the daughter of former Newton Police Chief Richard Labell, who said he plans to campaign for mandatory vaccinations of horses against the disease. There is no human vaccine.
Experts say vaccinating horses would not help prevent human cases of the disease, however. Dr. Jose Montero, the state epidemiologist, says both humans and horses are “dead ends” in the transmission of Triple E, apparently because they do not develop high enough levels of the virus to pass it on.
The state already encourages the vaccination of horses for their own protection, he said.
Labell, now a part-time police detective in Raymond, said his daughter stayed home on Sept. 2 from work with flu-like symptoms, including pain in her lower back, neck and left ear. When she developed a fever, she went to a hospital where she was diagnosed with an inner-ear infection and the flu. She was sent home with antibiotics.
The next day, her fever worsened and she returned to the hospital, where doctors found a high white blood cell count in her urine. They diagnosed a urinary tract infection and kept her overnight.
When her condition deteriorated, doctors transferred her to Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, where she died.
Three people in Massachusetts have contracted the disease and two have died.
Though much of the Triple E found in New Hampshire has been in the southern part of the state, two of the latest discoveries were in Andover, 50 miles north of the border.
Labell planned to speak at a Newton selectmen’s meeting Monday night about the need to vaccinate horses.
“We lost the most precious thing we have, but we don’t want it to be in vain,” he said.
“If my daughter’s death can be the catalyst for the passage of a law that could save some people, I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”
The health lab also confirmed a less dangerous virus, West Nile, in birds found in Plaistow and Bow.
The health department has a hotline for people with questions about either virus: 1-866-273-6453. The line is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The department’s Web site, www.dhhs.nh.gov, also has information about both diseases. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps...NEWS02/50913008 __________________
How sad. I'm sure glad I'm finally starting to feel better.
That's terrible about the girl dying of EEE. It's strange that they have such a problem with it that far north. You'd think there'd be more of it around here because we have mosquitoes virtually all year long. People can't even take their dogs and cats off of heartworm medication for the winter.
EEE is terrible right now. I think that the saddest cases were the little girl, and a gradfather, (not related) who died. It's been confirmed in the town that I live in, but no one has come down with it, they've just found it in birds.