Sharon Health Department Provides Mosquito Safety Tips After EEE Found in Easton

Sharon Public Health Nurse Sheila Miller distributed mosquito safety tips during Wednesday night's concert at Veteran's Memorial Park Beach.

The efforts were a proactive response to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's announcement earlier in the day that Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) has been detected in mosquitoes in Massachusetts for the first time this year -- in neighboring Easton, Miller said.

Two of the four positive mosquitoes were a "mammal-biting" kind of mosquito, which is cause for particular concern, the DPH said in a press release.

Miller said no positive mosquitoes have been found in Sharon.

State Health Commissioner John Auerbach spoke with area health agents on a conference call Wednesday and alerted them to the Easton situation, she said.

"It's more on the Taunton-Raynham border," Miller said.

The Norfolk County Mosquito Control Project will continue testing Sharon's mosquito pools, she said. Easton is in Bristol County, she noted.

Miller also is providing residents with mosquito safety tips.

"Make sure you put bug spray on," she said.

"These mosquitoes bite at sunset, so it's the evening mosquitoes."