Eastern+Equine+Encephalitis+(EEE)


 * Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE)**

Eastern Equine Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain that is caused by the Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus which is an alphavirus. This alphavirus can be contracted through the bite of an infected mosquito that has bitten an infected animal.
 * __ Root Cause of Disease: __**

The EEE virus has a smooth outer coating and a nucleocapsid, which contains single stranded RNA. The virus travels to the central nervous system and releases its RNA into anglio cells located within the brain. The body releases an autoimmune response, sending many lymphocytes around the area of infection (generally around a blood vessel). The rest of the brain, glial and inflammatory lymphocytic cells also inhabit the remaining (non-blood vessel portions of the brain. Lesions in the basal ganglia and thalamus are also side effects of the disease. (Parikh et al., 2012)
 * __ Affected Cell Types/tissues/organs/systems: __**

1938 marked the first time EEE was ever recognized as a disease and was reported to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the first time in 1955 until 1997. The amount of reported cases have varied drastically since its start in 1955. In 1997, there were only 4 cases in the United States of EEE reported to the CDC but in 2003 there were 26 cases reported in North Carolina alone.
 * __ Historical Background: __**

Symptoms include headache, high fever, irritability, restlessness, vomiting, diarrhea, drowsiness, myalgia, cyanosis (bluing of the skin for poor blood flow), memory loss, convulsions and coma (Davis et al., 2008). Of those that survive, many suffer with brain dysfunction and intellectual impairment, paralysis, seizures and cranial nerve dysfunction. The illness lasts from 1 to 2 weeks and recovery is indicated by the lack of involvement of the nervous system. 33% of those that get EEE die and those who have severe trauma from the disease often die within a few years.
 * __ Common symptoms: __**

Currently there are no human vaccines or antiviral treatments. Management of the disease is centered around reducing secondary characteristics of the disease such as seizures and cranial pressure (Davis, 2008).
 * __ Standard treatments: __**

Current research is focused on understanding the transmission cycle of the disease and how the ecology of the disease is affected by seasonality, host availability, population density and other environmental factors. It was always thought that mosquitoes’ transmission cycle for EEE revolved around birds, when in reality, snakes are responsible for cross-seasonal transmittance of the virus to uninfected mosquitoes (Bingham, 2012).
 * __ Current Research: __**


 * __ References: __**

Bingham, M.A., Graham, S.P., Burkett-Cadena, N.D., White, G.S., Unnasch, T.R. Detection of Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus RNA in North American Snakes. //American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,// 2012. 12-0257.

Davis LE, Beckham JD, Tyler KL. North American encephalitic arboviruses. (ix).//Neurol// // Clin //. 2008;26:727–57.

Deresiewicz, R. L., Thaler, S. J. Hsu L. and Zamani A. A. Clinical and neuroradiographic manifestations of eastern equine encephalitis. //N Engl J Med//. 1997 June 26; 336(26): 1867–1874. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199706263362604

Parikh, V., Tucci, V., and Galwankar, S.Infections of the nervous system. International // Journal of Critical Illness and Injury Science 2 //, no. 2 (2012): 82.