Vermont to Begin Aerial Mosquito Spraying After Death

The Vermont Health Department is planning to begin aerial spraying as part of a broader effort to control mosquitoes in an area of Rutland and Addison counties where two people were sickened, and one person died, from the state's first cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

On Wednesday the Health Department identified the person who died as Richard Hollis Breen, an 87-year-old Brandon man.

The death certificate released by the Health Department said Breen had been sick with the disease for five days before his death Tuesday at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington.

The Burlington Free Press reports that Breen was an educator who once served as head of the Vermont Principals' Association.

The Health Department has already begun ground spraying.

EEE is spread by the bite of an infected mosquito.

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