UVM’s response to eastern equine encephalitis is based on balancing safety with the student experience, said Blake Reilly, executive director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing.
The Center for Health and Wellbeing is encouraging event organizers to consider the risks of holding outdoor events after 6 p.m. or before 6 a.m., said Reilly. The Vermont Department of Health recommends people avoid being outdoors during that time.
“If it can’t be moved, that’s okay. We just want to make sure the students participating and the folks participating are informed,” Reilly said.
The most common change to outdoor events scheduled on campus has been moving the events to earlier in the day, Reilly said.
Outdoor intramural soccer games scheduled at Centennial Field have been rescheduled or relocated, according to a Sept. 4 email to participants from UVM Intramural Sports. Some student life and graduate student events have also been moved to earlier, according to Reilly.
Tim Lahey, an infectious disease physician at UVM Medical Center, recommends people be conscious of optional exposure to mosquitoes and use DEET-containing insect repellent, especially at dawn and dusk.
“I’ve actually had some patients say, ‘gosh, should I just not go outside?’ And we’re like, ‘no, no, no, no, live your life, but just take some measures,” Lahey said.
So far this mosquito season, 47 groups of mosquitoes across 11 towns tested positive for EEE virus, compared to 14 groups across 3 towns in 2023, according to an Aug. 28 VDH press release. The release also states that the Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets is increasing mosquito collection this year.
A human case was reported in Chittenden County in August, the first in the state since 2012, according to VDH.
“It’s such a rare thing [that] most years, we’re not going to see a case. If we see even one case or two cases, that feels like a big deal. It’s a big change from nothing,” Lahey said.
Reilly said that the University is taking many cues from the Vermont Department of Health when it comes to responding to the virus.
Pesticide spraying in mosquito habitats would be considered as a last resort under the state’s arbovirus response plan, Reilly said. The plan states that the Department may recommend spraying “if the risk for human illness appears to be ongoing or increasing.”
Eastern equine encephalitis is caused by a virus transmitted by an infected mosquito. EEE occurs in about 4 to 5% of people infected with the virus, according to the CDC.
“EEE can result in encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, and can be fatal in about one-third of people who develop severe EEE disease,” the Aug. 28 VDH release states.
According to VDH, most people with the virus won’t experience symptoms. People infected may experience a fever and body aches, just like any infection can cause, Lahey said.
“But then people will start to behave strangely or get confused or have a seizure [or] have neurological symptoms that signal that something’s really wrong. And that happens as the virus begins to infect the brain and cause inflammation that makes things malfunction,” Lahey said.
Along with three other towns in northwestern Vermont, Burlington was labeled “high-risk” for EEE in the initial Aug. 28 release. Areas classified as at risk in a VDH map updated Sept. 3 are all in the western part of the state, from Rutland County north to the Canadian border.
“EEE virus activity in Vermont clusters near acidic, hardwood swamps, most commonly in Franklin, Grand Isle, Addison, and northern Rutland counties,” the VDH website states. “However, EEE virus could be circulating in other parts of the state, so all Vermonters should take precautions to prevent mosquito bites.”
