CDC confirms Elkhart County resident has died from EEE virus

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a patient in Elkhart County contracted the EEE virus and died as a result of infection.

Eastern equine encephalitis, contracted from a mosquito bite, includes symptoms of chills, fever, body aches and joint pain.

Some people develop a more severe form of the disease that affects the nervous system and causes encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.

This case is the first since 1998 in Indiana and only the fourth since 1964, says the CDC.

The risk of mosquito activity will not disappear until the first hard freeze, and the CDC urges Hoosiers to continue preventing mosquito bites until then.