BOSTON (AP) – The eastern equine encephalitis virus was detected in Plymouth County for the first time this year, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced Wednesday.
The presence of EEE was confirmed by the Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory in mosquito samples collected July 13 from a single location at Carver in Plymouth County.
The findings mark the third time the EEE virus has been confirmed in mosquito samples tested in Massachusetts this year.
The two previous findings of the virus were detected in samples collected July 1 and 5 in Franklin County.
No human or animal case of EEE has been detected so far this year.
EEE is a rare but serious and life-threatening disease that can affect people of all ages and is usually transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito.
There were 12 human cases of EEE in Massachusetts in 2019 with six deaths.
There is no human vaccine for the virus.
West Nile virus was also detected this year in mosquitoes in Middlesex and Suffolk counties. There were five human cases of the West Nile virus in 2019.
No human or animal cases of West Nile virus have been detected so far this year.
