HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut health officials say laboratory testing has confirmed the state’s first human case of eastern equine encephalitis this season.
Public Health Commissioner Renèe Coleman-Mitchell said Monday that an adult resident of East Lyme tested positive for the potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease. The person became ill during the last week of August and remains hospitalized.
Health officials say it’s the second human case of EEE ever reported in the state. The first came in 2013 when an eastern Connecticut resident became ill and died.
Coleman-Mitchell urged people to continue taking precautions against mosquitoes including wearing insect repellent, covering bare skin and avoiding the outdoors at dusk and dawn.
Officials say mosquitoes in 12 towns in the state and horses in two other towns have tested positive for EEE this season.
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