With just one mosquito bite, Sue Bowley’s life was changed forever. She contracted eastern equine encephalitis in 1968 and fell into a coma. It was just after her 18th birthday.
Bowley’s coma would last for a month. After she woke up she could only speak gibberish and was unable to walk. Her hospitalization took around six months and the doctors weren’t always sure that Bowley was going to make it.
“They [the doctors] called them [Bowley’s parents] at least once or twice to say you better come because ‘this is it’ type of thing,” Bowley said.
Her recovery was not an easy process and it took years to get to her “new normal.”
“I discovered lots of things my body wouldn’t do anymore because of it [EEE],” Bowley said. “Before I was quite wiry [and] active and [after contracting EEE] I learned to be a little slower.”
Bowley’s “new normal” meant that she might age more quickly, have more medical problems and have a weaker short-term memory, but Bowley learned to walk and talk again and she survived EEE.
It has been 50 years since Bowley was hospitalized, and eastern equine encephalitis is back In Vermont. The Vermont Department of Health said that 78 groups of mosquitoes, each group with up to 50 mosquitoes, tested positive for Triple E this season in Chittenden County. They have listed Burlington as one of the highest-risk towns in Vermont for EEE in August.
The Vermont Department of Health urged the Burlington High School community to take precautions.
“The best way to prevent EEE infection is to protect yourself against mosquito bites,” epidemiologists Emily Pareles and Katie Strelau said.
The ways you can prevent yourself from getting bit are “by using EPA-registered insect repellent, wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and removing standing water outside your home. You can also stay indoors between 6 pm and 6 am which is when the mosquitoes are the most active.”
The Burlington School District responded to this advice by asking athletic coaches to end practices by 6 pm and by moving events they had scheduled indoors such as the back-to-school celebration “Playing Fields”.
Students say they are scared.
“As soon as the sun goes down I don’t step outside my house unless I’m wearing long pants and sleeves,” Antonia Constantino ‘27 said. “I went to the fair in jeans and a sweatshirt even though I know I usually get hot while I’m there.”
While students are worried, and the consequences for those who contract EEE can be very serious, the reality is that EEE is a rare virus. According to VTDigger, Vermont did not see EEE in the mosquitoes from 2016 to 2022. And on average, only 11 people contract EEE in the United States each year.
“That seems pretty low for there to be a mandate for everybody to stay inside,” Dean of Students Molly Doran said. “But obviously we have to do what we can to prevent it from spreading.”
