Residents advised to keep taking precautions against mosquito bites

Despite cooler temperatures, state officials are advising residents to continue taking precautions against mosquito bites that can spread the deadly eastern equine encephalitis virus.

Tests of mosquitoes collected from Sept. 30 to Oct. 10 found EEE-infected mosquitoes in Bethany, Chester, Darien, East Lyme, Hampton, Ledyard and Madison, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station reported Wednesday.

“Although mosquito numbers are on the wane, we continue to detect EEE virus in mosquitoes, some of which are being found in new communities,” said Dr. Philip Armstrong, medical entomologist at the CAES in New Haven. “We will continue to closely monitor the situation by trapping and testing mosquitoes for EEE throughout the state until the first killing frost.”

Infected mosquitoes and cases of infected horses and/ or humans have been reported in 27 towns this year. The four human cases — including three fatalities — and six horse cases have occurred in southeastern Connecticut.

“The lingering detection of low levels of EEE activity in mosquitoes and discovery of virus in new locales is a pattern we have seen in prior years as birds begin their fall migration,” said Theodore Andreadis, director of the Center for Vector Biology & Zoonotic Diseases at CAES.

“We do not anticipate any further build-up of the virus, as mosquitoes breeding is over,” he said. “We do, however, recommend that residents continue to take precautionary measures against mosquito bites, such as insect repellent and covering bare skin, especially in wooded areas and during dusk when biting mosquitoes are most active.”