COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) announced today that the state has experienced its first confirmed death caused by infection with eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus in more than 20 years.

This is the first human case of EEE virus to be reported in South Carolina since 2020, and the first fatality from the virus in the state since 2003. EEE virus is spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito and is not transmissible from person to person. Infection by the virus can cause a febrile illness without neurological symptoms or can cause neurological symptoms and disease due to inflammation and damage to the brain (encephalitis) or lining of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis).

“Sadly, a person from Beaufort County has died from an infectio

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