Triple E Spraying

Auto accidents caused by deer kill 130 people a year. Bee stings kill about 50 people a year. Bites from black widow or brown recluse spiders kill about 6 people a year. Eastern Equine Encephalitis kills about 3 people a year. Between 1964 and 2004 there were 60 cases in Florida with Georgia and Massachusetts tied for the dubious distinction of second place with 26 cases.  The average annual number of reported cases of EEE in people in the entire USA is between 5 and 6. Mortality is in the 30-50% range with most survivors suffering permanent disability. Since 2004 there has been an apparent uptick in reported cases and an increase in mosquitoes trapped with the disease by researchers. Normally the disease goes through peaks and valleys in a three year cycle, but that seems to be changing. The most likely culprit (cover your ears and eyes, Republicans) is global warming extending the mosquito season.

The good news, I suppose, is that you can be completely stupid and take no precautions and still be more than likely to escape the disease. The bad news is the disease is so rare and so deadly that it is unlikely there are people walking around with antigens from a mild undetected case as there are with West Nile. Even if you’ve lived in the swampland of Easton all your life, you don’t have immunity to triple E.

Murderous Bambi (I knew that hunter killing his mom was a bad idea) doesn’t cause widespread panic like triple E. Everyone hates mosquitoes including environmentalists who understand their role in the food chain. EEE and mosquitoes are such insidious threats that they easily induce fear. However, if you do a risk/benefit analysis shouldn’t we be shooting deer or banning cars rather than spending money fighting triple E?

There’s no good answer to that question. The family of the Raynham man who died want aerial spraying, but the state argues that the criteria for aerial spraying has not been met. One death of a person in a particularly susceptible category isn’t enough when virus concentrations in trapped mosquitoes and the number of pools with infected bugs remain below a certain level. Aerial spraying is expensive and only offers a temporary threat reduction. You could still get EEE from a mosquito that wasn’t killed (knowing you, dear reader, you’d stop taking precautions!) and even the mildest pesticide has some unwanted environmental side effects for humans and other animals.

That being said, I don’t see the harm in doing a limited ground spray around the periphery of athletic fields. A mix of a relatively safe adult pesticide with a larvacide coupled with the usual change in time for sporting events would go far in alleviating the worry that parents have. Ironically, it’s probably the spectators at athletic events that are most at risk than the participants.

I know covering myself head to foot in Off did not prevent me from getting bitten at the TPC last week. Spraying 18 holes on a golf course was probably unrealistic and DEET did work pretty well while on the course. However, spraying the edge of the cart yard, an acre area tucked into swampy land, would have done a lot to cut down on mosquito bites for our volunteers and the worry that I have about being the unlucky lottery winner receiving triple E as my prize.

So, two cheers for a limited and thoughtful application of the safest spray and don’t forget the other precautions as well. Here’s a suggestion that no one speaks about: have the state spend money to fund research to find a vaccine that is safe for humans. Such a vaccine already exists for horses-our little guys are safe at Sheep Pasture. I suppose we’d discover that more people would die from a large scale vaccination program than would ever die from triple E, but we wouldn’t know until we’ve tried to develop a vaccine. Millions of people might die in a flu epidemic justifying a few deaths from bad reactions to the vaccine, but if more than one person a year died from the triple E vaccine, it wouldn’t be worth it. Sometimes you just can’t beat Mother Nature!