Florida death toll rises

Four Florida residents have died from a mosquito-borne disease that normally afflicts horses, health officials reported on Tuesday as the swampy state enters peak season for mosquito-borne illnesses.

Health officials said last month that two Tampa-area residents had died from eastern equine encephalitis, a viral disease that inflames the brain.

Two additional deaths from the disease known as EEE have since been confirmed, one in the state capital of Tallahassee and one in the northwest Florida town of Sopchoppy.

The disease mostly affects unvaccinated horses but a handful of human deaths are recorded each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no human vaccine for the disease, which kills a third of its human victims and often leaves survivors with significant brain damage. - Source

Matthew 24;
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences,