the State : Encephalitis Rate Down

Outbreaks of encephalitis--marked by headache, high fever, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors and, occasionally, convulsions, paralysis and even death--reached epidemic proportions in the state in the 1940s and 1950s, but have since declined dramatically, scientists told the annual meeting of the California Mosquito and Vector Control Assn. in Berkeley. They credited a combination of mosquito-control efforts and, of all things, widespread use of televisions and air-conditioning units. “People who watch television indoors on warm summer evenings--with their air conditioners on--are less likely to be exposed during the peak biting period of mosquitoes that carry encephalitis,” said William Reeves, professor of epidemiology at University of California, Berkeley.