BOSTON – A Duxbury woman has contracted the state’s first human case of eastern equine encephalitis this year, state health officials said Thursday.

The woman, who is in her 60s, developed symptoms from the dangerous mosquito-borne virus on Aug. 27. Tests confirmed the infection on Thursday, said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, DPH’s chief medical officer.

The woman, whose name was not released, is “severely ill” and remains hospitalized, according to DeMaria.

“It’s a rare disease, but when you do get it, it’s very severe,” he said.

The dangerous virus has turned up in two New Hampshire residents this summer, and a horse and mosquitoes were found to be carrying the disease on Boston’s North Shore.