New Hampshire resident dies after testing positive for mosquito-borne encephalitis virus

A New Hampshire resident infected with the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus has died, state health authorities said.

The Hampstead resident's infection was the first in the state in a decade, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday. The resident, whom the department only identified as an adult, had been hospitalized due to severe central nervous system symptoms, the department said.

About a third of people who develop encephalitis from the virus die from the infections, and survivors can suffer lifelong mental and physical disabilities. There is no vaccine or antiviral treatment available for infections, which can cause flu-like symptoms and lead to severe neurological disease along with inflammation of the brain and membranes around the spinal cord.

“When it does cause an infection, it is very, very severe. Although it’s a very rare infection, we have no treatment for it,” said Dr. Richard Ellison, immunologist and infectious disease specialist at University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. “Once someone gets it, it’s just — all we can do is provide supportive care, and it can kill people.”

There are typically about 11 human cases of eastern equine encephalitis in the U.S. per year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two of the three people infected in New Hampshire in 2014 died.

The health department said the virus has also been detected in one horse and several mosquito batches in New Hampshire this summer, and people in Massachusetts and Vermont also have been infected. Mosquitoes that carry the virus can sometimes be found in areas that used to be swamp land that has been converted but where they can still find habitat, Ellison said.

Public health authorities in states where mosquito-borne infections happen encourage people to take precautions, preventing mosquito bites by using repellent, wearing long sleeves and pants and avoiding outdoor activity in the early morning and evening when mosquitoes are most active. Removing any standing water where mosquitoes breed also is important.

“We believe there is an elevated risk for EEEV infections this year in New England given the positive mosquito samples identified. The risk will continue into the fall until there is a hard frost that kills the mosquitos. Everybody should take steps to prevent mosquito bites when they are outdoors,” said New Hampshire epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan.

In Massachusetts, several towns have urged people to avoid going outdoors at night this summer because of concerns over this virus, one of several diseases mosquitoes can spread to humans. Massachusetts authorities planned to begin spraying Tuesday in some communities to prevent the spread.

A passer-by walks a dog, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, along a walkway, in Plymouth, Mass., near a sign that advises people of a ban in effect for outdoor activity between dusk and dawn due to the risk of exposure to mosquito-borne diseases. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE — A Cattail mosquito is held up for inspection Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010, at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute, in South Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, File)

New Hampshire resident dies after testing positive for mosquito-borne encephalitis virus

New Hampshire resident dies after testing positive for mosquito-borne encephalitis virus

FILE - Visitors stand near a 1921 statue of the Wampanoag leader Massasoit, center, Wednesday, June 9, 2021, on Cole's Hill, in Plymouth, Mass. The town of Plymouth announced Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, that it's closing public outdoor recreation facilities from dusk until dawn each day after a horse in the town was infected with eastern equine encephalitis. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Mauricio Pochettino views the U.S. women's team as the example for his men.

“I think that is going to be our inspiration,” he said. “That is the objective to match.”

Pochettino held a 48-minute introductory news conference Friday, three days after he agreed to coach the Americans through the 2026 World Cup and two days after he landed in the United States. The 52-old Argentine replaced Gregg Berhalter, fired from his second term on July 10 after the Americans were eliminated in the Copa America's first round.

“We are here because we want to win. We are winners,” Pochettino said. “We are going to compete, and compete is completely different than to play."

His first games will be friendlies against Panama on Oct. 12 at Austin, Texas, and at Mexico three days later. While the U.S. men haven’t reached the World Cup semifinals since the initial tournament in 1930 and haven't gotten to the quarterfinals since 2002, the American women have won four World Cups and five Olympic gold medals.

Wearing a dark suit, white dress shirt with no tie and a pocket square, Pochettino was flanked by U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone — a world champion and two-time gold medalist — CEO JT Batson and sporting director Matt Crocker.

"One of the most important things that we need to be inspired by is the women’s team,” Pochettino said.

He coached Spain's Espanyol (2009-12), England's Southampton (2013-14), Tottenham (2014-19) and Chelsea (2023-24) and France's Paris Saint-Germain (2021-22), winning a French league title. Crocker knew Pochettino from their time together at Southampton, where Crocker was academy director.

“He would pretty much physically hug everybody in the club,” Crocker recalled.

At Stamford Bridge, Pochettino worked alongside Emma Hayes, who won seven league crowns while managing Chelsea from 2012 until becoming the U.S. women's coach last spring. She helped recruit her former colleague.

“I didn’t need to ask. She explained everything,” Pochettino said.

Hayes ran her first U.S. practice on May 28 and led the Americans to an Olympic gold medal 74 days later.

“I was teasing Poch that it only took Emma two months to win an Olympic gold medal, so I’m curious what he’s going to do in two months,” Cone said. “We want to set ourselves up for being able to win any game that we are in.”

Pochettino is heading a national team for the first time, becoming the 10th U.S. coach in 14 years and its first foreign-born leader since Jurgen Klinsmann from 2011-16.

“We need to believe that we can win, that we can win not only a game, we can win the World Cup, because if not it’s going to be so difficult the journey,” Pochettino said. “We want players that arrive on the day one in the training camp thinking big.”

Pochettino isn't going to judge players by poor performances in a pair of September friendlies and he said the 637 days before their 2026 World Cup opener was sufficient time to prepare.

He is likely to have his full player pool available for just eight one-week training periods before the team gathers ahead of the World Cup.

“Everyone thinks that there is no time to prepare,” he said. “I am in the opposite side. I believe that there is time enough. ... I don’t want to create an excuse for the players to say, oh, yeah, but now we don’t have time to buy the new ideas, the new philosophy.”

Talks began in Barcelona in July.

“We spent a lot of time with him,” Cone said, “just being as open and honest and transparent about the good, the bad, the ugly of U.S. soccer and what he was stepping into because we wanted, if he chose to come here, we wanted him to know exactly what he was getting into, what he was up against, where the opportunities were, and Emma played a huge part in that.”

Negotiations were complicated by the need to settle his previous contract with Chelsea and club officials concentrating on the Aug. 30 transfer deadline and then going on vacation. USSF officials could afford Pochettino’s salary only with the help of gifts from hedge fund and asset management firm heads.

“Unless he was willing to work for much less,” Cone said.

While some have proclaimed the current men's group the most talented the U.S. has produced, Pochettino was more restrained and said “it's a very good generation of players.”

“We have very talented players. I think, of course, the confidence was a little bit low after the Copa America,” he opined. “We need to show that we play as a collective on the pitch.”

Pochettino dined at Fasano Fifth Avenue on Thursday night with American soccer stakeholders that included Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, Los Angeles FC co-managing owner Larry Berg, Philadelphia Union chairman Jay Sugarman and vice chairman Richard Leibovitch. He plans to travel with USSF officials to Atlanta next week to search for housing near the office and training complex under construction in Fayetteville, Georgia.

His news conference — on Friday the 13th, for those who are superstitious — was in a Warner Bros. Discovery screening room at 30 Hudson Yards on the far west side of Manhattan, just eight blocks from Berhalter's introduction at Glasshouse Chelsea on Dec. 4, 2018.

Pochettino is bringing along his longtime staff, assistant coaches Jesús Pérez and Miguel d’Agostino, and goalkeeper coach Toni Jiménez, and will hire at least one addition.

While Pochettino spoke in accented English, he conversed mostly in Spanish when he arrived at Southampton and Pérez was among his interpreters. Pochettino was perturbed when he heard the translation at a news conference after saying he felt “contento.”

“I am not `over the moon.' Why do you say `over the moon?'” he remembered.

Now Pochettino says his family is indeed “over the moon” about the move to America.

“If I am happy, I am motivated," he said. “My family has seen me in the last few weeks, few months I think with fire in my eyes," he said, pointing to his face. "That is the most important thing."

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, left, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, and U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone laugh during a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, smiles after a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, right, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, shakes hands with U.S. soccer sporting director Matt Crocker at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, left, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, shakes hands with U.S. Soccer Federation President Cindy Parlow Cone at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Mauricio Pochettino, the newly appointed head coach of the United States men's national soccer team, speaks at a press conference Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)