Thread by @ozm

A deadly mosquito-borne illness is brewing in the Northeast. read.medium.com/eHDespw

There is no vaccine or known treatment for the virus, and while transmission is rare, the infection is around 400 times deadlier than the flu.

read.medium.com/eHDespw

Those who contract the eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus will die approximately 40% of the time; those who survive often suffer neurological impairment for years to come. read.medium.com/eHDespw

Since the 1980s, scientists warned that if global temperatures rose significantly, disease-laden mosquitoes would extend their reach into previously unaffected ecologies around the world, increasing rates of infection. read.medium.com/eHDespw

Given its localized impact, EEE has historically been a blip on the global mosquito-borne disease death count.

However, when the infection takes hold, symptoms cascade violently from a mild flu to near incapacitation over the course of about one week. read.medium.com/eN33ymv

Although the coronavirus and EEE operate on radically different scales, @CT_CAES’s Theodore Andreadis pointed to a connection between these two outbreaks and the suffering they caused: They are both symptoms of a globalized world, a changing climate, a new environmental paradigm.

Andreadis also warned against drawing simple linear connections between temperature and the spread of disease — it was part of a bigger picture.

Read more. 👇

read.medium.com/eN33ymv