In peak season for Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), officials have confirmed the first known patient in Mass. to be infected with the disease in 2013, an 80-something-year-old woman, has died, the Boston Globe reported.

The woman was not identified, but was administered to the hospital earlier this month and died there a few days later. Health officials are tracking the woman's actions around the time she was supposedly bitten in order to decide whether or not to raise risk levels and administer warnings.

"We are right in the middle of peak transmission for EEE," said Dr. Catherine Brown, state public health veterinarian. "Given the activity we have seen over the last decade for EEE, I am afraid this is the type of thing we are going to see happen."

Officials do not know where she was infected, but several counties have reported the presence of mosquitoes carrying EEE in the past week. Norfolk County, where the woman was from, is unusual for EEE to appear, according to Brown.

"EEE has been in Massachusetts since the 1930s, but we are still learning things about it," Brown said.

There have been other reports of EEE across the Northeast region of the U.S.

According to the Vermont Health Department, five cases of EEE from mosquito pools all of the same area. Officials are planning an aerial spray Thursday and next Tuesday to try and quell the spread before it gets out of hand.

"These newest detections only intensify our recommendations to Vermonters to fight the bite, no matter where you live," Health Commissioner Harry Chen, MD, told Fox 44 Burlington. "We can't kill every mosquito, but targeted spraying may knock back the local population of mosquitoes that are carrying the EEE virus. Spraying could reduce risk of infection, but it's still important that we all take precautions against mosquito bites."

Health officials from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention are also doing what they can to prevent the dangerous disease from spreading.

Dr. Sheila Pinette, director of the Maine CDC told the Morning Herald warm and wet weather is ideal for mosquitoes and the season for them could last into Oct.

"We still have plenty of warm weather ahead in the next few weeks and this increases the possibility of additional positive (sampling) pools," Pinette said.

EEE is a rare virus that is only known to be passed to humans through mosquitos, as it is not contagious among birds horses and humans. While some mosquitoes do carry the virus, not all do, and just because a mosquito is positive for it, humans may still not catch it.