An adult in New Hampshire died after being infected with eastern equine encephalitis, or EEE, in the state’s first human case of the virus in 10 years, health officials said Tuesday.
The person who died was from Hampstead, New Hampshire, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. The last human EEE infection in New Hampshire was in 2014 — that year saw three people infected by the mosquito-borne virus, and two of them died.
Massachusetts and Vermont have each announced a human case of EEE this summer, and New Hampshire’s state epidemiologist said the region seems to be at higher risk for getting the virus and urged people to prevent getting bitten by mosquitoes.
“We believe there is an elevated risk for [EEE] infections this year in New England given the positive mosquito samples identified,” Chan said in a statement. “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.”
EEE is a rare but serious disease, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services noted. It can cause flu-like symptoms or but also severe neurological disease, like inflammation in the brain (encephalitis) or around the spinal cord (meningitis) that can lead to life-long disability or death.
The person from Hampstead, about 10 miles north of Lawrence, Massachusetts, developed a severe disease of the central nervous system before dying, according to health officials, who didn’t identify the person but offered condolences to their family and friends.
New Hampshire tracks the community risk level of mosquito-borne illnesses online — the most recently available map, from Aug. 15, showed Gilmarton, Kensington and Tilton at the highest risk.
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