1st Case of Mosquito-Borne EEE Virus Found in Rhode Island in 2024, Officials Warn

EEE is a potentially rare but fatal disease, with around 30 percent people dying from the virus, officials say.

This close-up photograph shows a mosquito in Montlouis-sur-Loire, central France, on October 21, 2022. Guillaume Souvant/AFP via Getty Images

Officials in Rhode Island on Wednesday confirmed the first case of mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) this year, after neighboring Massachusetts sent out warnings over the virus.

The EEE case in Rhode Island is the state’s first human since 2019 and 11th since the early 1980s, the state’s Department of Health confirmed in a news release. The person who contracted the virus is located in Providence County and in their 70s.