New York's first person to contract Eastern equine encephalitis -- or EEE -- in almost a decade has died, the governor's office announced Monday as the state declared the virus an "imminent threat to public health.

The New York resident who tested positive for the mosquito-borne EEE virus has died, prompting state health officials to declare an "imminent threat to the public for EEE."

The rare and deadly mosquito-borne illness known as Eastern equine encephalitis was identified in New York for the first time in over a decade last week and the person who contracted it has since died from the virus, the state’s governor announced Monday, making them the second person to die from the infection this season.