Electrical and electronic equipment in Sudbury: Mosquito samples tested positive

SUDBURY, MA — State health officials have identified the Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis virus in mosquitoes collected in Sudbury, according to the city.

Sudbury is the first community in Middlesex County to have EEE-positive mosquitoes in 2024. The first samples were confirmed in Plymouth County earlier this summer.

No human cases of EEE were identified in Massachusetts this summer. Sudbury had one of the 12 cases in the last serious outbreak of the disease in 2019. Sophia Garabedian, who was 5 years old in 2019, survived the disease, which killed six people in 2019.

“EEE is a rare but serious disease transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. Although EEE can infect people of all ages, people under 15 and over 50 are at greatest risk of severe disease,” the special committee said in a bulletin on Thursday.

So far in 2024, 46 mosquitoes have been collected in the state that have tested positive for EEE. A single case has been confirmed in an animal in Plymouth. Almost all EEE samples were collected in the Plymouth area, although samples have also been found in Dedham and near Newburyport.

Before the season began this summer, health officials in Sudbury predicted a potentially bad mosquito year, due in part to the heavy rainfall during the spring months.

According to the city, the East Middlesex Mosquito Control Project will conduct mosquito control measures on Monday in response to the EEE confirmation.