BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts public health officials say the potentially fatal eastern equine encephalitis virus has been detected in the state for the first time this year.

The Department of Public Health said Wednesday that EEE was detected in mosquito samples collected Monday in Easton and New Bedford.

No human or animal cases of EEE have been found in the state so far this year and there is no elevated risk level associated with the finding.

The virus is generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The last human case of EEE in Massachusetts was in 2013. Last year, a horse and a turkey, both in Worcester County, were diagnosed with EEE.

Another mosquito-borne disease, West Nile virus, was detected in Massachusetts for the first this year last week.

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