Seven-year-old girl DIES from brain-swelling disease that kills 30% of suffers – after being bitten by mosquito in ALABAMA

A seven-year-old girl in Alabama has died after contracting a virus from a mosquito that led to life-threatening brain swelling.

The second grader, who has not been named, became infected with eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) – a rare virus that kills up to one in three people it infects.

The fatality marks the first reported death related to the virus in Alabama this year and the second statewide case, after another case was also discovered in Spanish Fort, an Alabama city on the Gulf Coast.

The virus was also found in horses in New York this year, although no cases have been reported in humans.

The cases of EEE follow multiple diagnoses of locally transmitted malaria, another mosquito-borne disease, discovered this year in Florida and Texas. In addition, two people in Michigan tested positive for the rare mosquito-borne “Jamestown Canyon virus.”

The girl’s fatal death was announced by the Alabama Department of Public Health, which said the infection had occurred in recent weeks.

The second EEE patient also became infected around the same time, the department said, and also lived in the Spanish Fort.

EEE is a rare disease, with only about 11 cases reported each year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The virus is picked up by mosquitoes when they bite birds, which carry the virus but have no symptoms. The insects then transmit the virus to humans when they bite into them.

It gets its name from the infection it causes in horses, which can lead to serious neurological symptoms, such as walking around in circles and pressing their heads against walls or other objects.

People who are infected begin to show symptoms about four to 10 days after contracting the virus.

The infection may begin with symptoms such as a sudden headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting.

In severe cases, EEA can progress to disorientation, seizures, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and coma.

There are no vaccines or treatments for the disease. Instead, doctors rely on a variety of treatments to control symptoms and help patients.

The CDC says about 30 percent of patients die from the disease. In horses, this percentage is up to 95 percent.

People younger than 15 years and older than 50 years are especially at high risk of dying from the disease.

In response to the cases at the Spanish Fort, authorities are spraying insecticides in an attempt to kill mosquitoes that could be carrying the virus.

Spanish Fort mayor Mike McMillan said at a rally this week that the city already sprays areas once a week to kill mosquitoes, AL.com reports.

But, he added, they couldn’t do this more regularly if insects developed resistance — which would “defeat the purpose.”

Efforts to kill the mosquitoes are complicated by the city’s uncertainty as to which species of insect transmits the infection. They set up traps this week to catch mosquitoes so they can be tested for the virus.

Mr. McMillan said, “We border a swamp, the Delta. There are many different types of mosquitoes.’

He added: “We are doing everything we can do until we can determine the species.”