PLoS ONE (Jan 2015)

The first outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis in Vermont: outbreak description and phylogenetic relationships of the virus isolate.

  • Kali D Saxton-Shaw,
  • Jeremy P Ledermann,
  • Joan L Kenney,
  • Erica Berl,
  • Alan C Graham,
  • Joel M Russo,
  • Ann M Powers,
  • John-Paul Mutebi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128712
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 6
p. e0128712

Abstract

Read online

The first known outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in Vermont occurred on an emu farm in Rutland County in 2011. The first isolation of EEE virus (EEEV) in Vermont (VT11) was during this outbreak. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that VT11 was most closely related to FL01, a strain from Florida isolated in 2001, which is both geographically and temporally distinct from VT11. EEEV RNA was not detected in any of the 3,905 mosquito specimens tested, and the specific vectors associated with this outbreak are undetermined.