For the first time since 2016, a Michigan resident has been diagnosed with a case of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a mosquito-borne virus that can lead to “lasting brain damage” and even death, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services said in a Monday statement. The news comes after the Lansing resident, who has not yet been identified,
was hospitalized in August “with a neurological illness,” the department said. The case is the first in the state since three people were infected in 2016. EEE is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. The infection is “a virus of birds that is spread by mosquitoes near swamps and bogs,” according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. READ MORE