Peralta death still a mystery

More testing is needed to determine exactly what killed Queens state Sen. Jose Peralta, officials said Friday.

Peralta, 47, died unexpectedly after being rushed to the hospital Wednesday night. Family members believe he died of an infection that threw his body into septic shock.

“We don't know what infection it was, if it was meningitis or something,” Peralta's wife Evelyn told the Daily News Thursday. “The hospital was surprised, too. He'd had an ear infection, something in his ear that was bothering him for a while.”

A spokeswoman for the city medical examiner's office said more tests were needed before a cause of death could be established.

Reports of septic shock were an “incomplete interpretation” of what happened, a source with knowledge of the case said.

Peralta was the first first Dominican-American ever elected to the state Senate.

Mayor de Blasio said Friday that he and his wife were “both pained by his sudden loss.”

“Jose Peralta was a proud son of Queens and the Dominican Republic,” the mayor tweeted. “He worked his way up from the grassroots, with heart and tenacity.”

Gov. Cuomo ordered all flags across the state to be lowered to half staff to honor Peralta's contributions to New York.