To combat North Dakota’s western equine encephalitis epidemic in 1941, health authorities recommended that farm workers wear mesh veils, gloves and ankle coverings. That’s because the outbreak was linked to mosquitoes transmitting a virus from horses . Encephalitis causes inflammation of the brain, flu-like symptoms, weakness and loss of consciousness. The so-called “sleeping sickness” had been present in the state since the ‘30s, but nothing like the epidemic of 1941, which affected at least