Evidence of EEE (Eastern Equine Encephalitis) virus has been discovered in one Mercer County community, as per officials at Pennsylvania Environmental Protection Department.
On Wednesday, the officials at the department will spray for mosquitoes in Stoneboro, the place where evidence was discovered initially.
The EEE virus, which can result in a potentially fatal disease, infects birds which reside in freshwater swamplands and spreads from one bird to another via infected mosquitoes.
If an EEE infected mosquito bites a human or horse, the person or animal can become ill. The symptoms of the disease include high fever, headache, swelling in the brain andcan even lead to coma in a few patients. Most of the symptoms last from 3 to 10 days typically.
There is no definite cure available for EEE and 3 of every ten people who contract the fatal disease die.
All the doctors can really do is reduce the fever and lower the pressure built in the brain. A few people who may survive the EEE disease will be disabled permanently while some people recover entirely, as per the officials.
The risk of contracting EEE remains highest from July till September.
Notably, EEE cases have been confirmed already in four Pennsylvania counties: Monroe, Erie, Carbon and now Mercer and Luzerne.