AUGUSTA — The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention says a Maine resident has died of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, the first such death in state history.
The agency says a person age 65 or older from York County who died Oct. 17 was confirmed to have the mosquito-borne disease. State officials did not identify the person who died.
Maine CDC officials say the individual became ill with encephalitis in late September and was hospitalized in New Hampshire on Sept. 30. Preliminary testing by New Hampshire’s public health laboratory was inconclusive. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then confirmed the presence of the disease.
State Epidemiologist Siiri Bennett says there is no current risk of the disease in Maine because there no active mosquitoes.
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