Permethrin Again Overlooked to Prevent Eastern Equine Encephalitis

Dr. James Katz MD MPH
October 2, 2019
Disease, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Lyme Disease, Outdoors, Preventative Medicine, Public Health, Seasonal

Eastern Equine Encephalitis is spread by mosquitoes. So is malaria, Zika, and a dozen other serious diseases, I have written about permethrin extensively as an agent to reduce the incidence of Lyme disease. It is a neurotoxin for insects, but not for men or women, and it will kill or disable a mosquito within seconds.

I wore permethrin treated clothing on a recent trip to Africa to prevent malaria (the preventive medicines are less than 100% effective). I bought some clothing from Insect Shield, and I sprayed everything from shoes to hats with Sawyer permethrin from Home Depot.

What the Army recommends is permethrin treated clothing, and a long acting DEET insect repellent, such as Ultrathon, on exposed skin. Read more about this here. For those of you who plan to be out in the early morning hours or around sunset, this is a small price to pay to avoid a disease with a 20% case/fatality rate. Unfortunately, if you live through the acute phase, lifetime neurologic deficits are common in the majority of patients.

Dr. James Katz MD MPH

A double Board certified physician, Dr. Katz attended Yale University and received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Connecticut Medical School, and earned a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed Physician Training & Certification in Age Management Medicine with the Foundation for Care Management (FCM). He is trained in Age Management Medicine by Cenegenics®. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine.

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