Hunters Helping Track EEE In Maine

SOUTH PORTLAND (NEWS CENTER) -- Cold weather may signal the end of mosquito season here in Maine, but researchers are still hard at work tracking the deadly virus they can carry.  Eastern Equine Encephalitis is transmitted to mammals like humans and horses by mosquitoes that bite birds infected by the virus.  EEE is rare in people, but it kills roughly one third of the people that become infected by it.

"Several studies done out in the Midwest have found that deer can be affected by EEE," stated field biologist Chuck Lubelczyk.  "The deer are out in the woods.  They are being exposed to the same mosquitoes as horses would be, and people, and so deer can get symptoms similar to horses of EEE and as more horses become vaccinated they are going to be immune to the virus, but white-tail deer do not have the benefit of being vaccinated, so they can be potentially exposed much longer than horses can."

Biologists and volunteers with the Maine Medical Center Research Institute are taking blood samples from deer at tagging stations across the state.  The goal is to collect samples from deer from a wide range of places and analyze the blood to get a clearer picture of their level of exposure to EEE.

"Clearly the risk is much broader very likely in Maine than just York County and Waldo County, and those environments so we do want to get and idea of the extent of north and south, east and west of EEE in Maine," said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control.  "The deer study should help provide us with some barometer of the extent of EEE in Maine."

Public health officials stress that venison is safe to eat.  They recommend people thoroughly cook the meat and wash after handling any raw meat.  They also advise hunters to wear rubber or latex gloves when field dressing their deer.

"The numbers of people who actually die from EEE across the country is relatively very small, but they do tend to be concentrated in areas where there are known reservoirs, that is usually bird populations that keep the virus and don't die from it," added Dr. Mills.  "Now that more and more horses are getting vaccinated, one of the concerns that we have is that next summer and fall we may not know where EEE is until people start getting it."

Researchers are sending the samples collected to the national Center for Disease Control in Colorado for testing.  They hope to have the results of their study in the spring.