Importantly, the very-low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR), which serves as a receptor for EEEV [13,14,15], was identified to play a key role in pathogenesis, as VLDLR KO mice had significantly reduced mortality as compared to WT mice upon subcutaneous exposure (Table 3), likely due to reduced infection, confirming that VLDLR is an important host factor for EEEV [58]. Here, VLDLR is linked to infection.