'From perfectly healthy to brain dead': Dad dies from mosquito bite
Health officials are now urging people to guard against mosquito bites after a mosquito-borne virus killed three.
Gregg McChesney, 64, was reportedly “perfectly healthy” before a nine-day illness and his death in August.
Doctors confirmed Mr McChesney had Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) –– a rare mosquito-borne virus which has killed three people in Michigan, US, this year.
Mr McChesney was from Kalamazoo County and was an artist and a grandfather, who was working alongside his brother less than a month before his death, according to News 8.
“He was perfectly healthy, happy human being and within a matter of nine days he went from perfectly healthy to brain dead,” his brother, Mark McChesney, told News 8.
“We just didn’t know and the doctors were just doing everything they could to try to say it was this or that, and they just couldn’t figure it out.”
According to News 8, this year, there have been seven confirmed cases of EEE, all in southwestern counties in the US.
Public health officials are urging people to guard against mosquito bites after more cases of a rare mosquito-borne virus.
The department is encouraging officials in affected Michigan counties to consider postponing, rescheduling or cancelling outdoor activities occurring at or after dusk, particularly activities that involve children, until there’s a hard frost.
Dr Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services told NBC News the outbreak was the worst Michigan had experienced in over a decade.
On average, every year, seven cases of EEE are reported to the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention.
This year, at least 20 people have been diagnosed with EEE in New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Michigan, according to NBC News.
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