By Staff
Staff reports
No confirmation has been received from the Atlanta office of the Center for Disease Control concerning Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) found in Escambia County.
One local fatality has been confirmed to be an encephalitis related death, however the Atlanta office of the Center for Disease Control has not confirmed the specific strain of the disease that caused the death.
The Escambia County deah was listed as the first human fatality of the disease since 1996, according to Ricky Elliott, and environmentalist with the Escambia County Health Department.
Health officials have declined to comment on the cause of death in an elderly Castleberry man. It is suspected that his death may be related to the EEE virus as well.
Steve Mitchell, head of the environmental health for several county health departments said that test results concerning the two deaths could be expected this week. However, those results have not been confirmed.