Eastern Equine Enchephalomyelitis (EEE) virus (family Togaviridae, genusAlphavirus) can cause serious, often fatal, disease in various vertebrates, particularly equids, humans, and some birds (Morris 1988). This virus is distributed widely in the New World, occurring in eastern Northern America, the Caribbean region, southern Central America, and northern and eastern South America (White 1989). Mosquitoes appear to be the principal enzootic and epizootic vectors of EEE virus with isolations reported from at least 23 species and six genera (Morris 1988). However, the first isolations of EEE virus from arthropods were from chicken mites, Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer), and chicken body lice, Menacantus Stramineus (Nitzsch), in Tennessee (Howitt et al. 1948). The finding sparked a flurry of research activity in the following decade during which the ability of blood-feeding chicken mites (D. gallinae, Ornithonyssus bursa (Berlese), and Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Canestrini and Fanzago)) to transmit encephalitide viruses (those causing EEE, St. Louis Encephalitis (SLE)), and western equine encephalomyelitis) was investigated.
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