BOSTON- Nine years after Eastern equine encephalitis last proved fatal in Massachusetts, the mosquito-borne virus has claimed two lives in as many weeks.

A Holbrook teenager died after being infected last month, state officials said yesterday. A 64-year-old Brockton man who worked outdoors also died in August.

Before this year, the state's last human case of EEE infection was reported in 2001, and the last fatal case was in 1995, according to the Department of Public Health.

"It is sobering," said Dr. Al DeMaria, the state's director of communicable disease control.

The teenager, whose identity was withheld, died last week after he was hospitalized on Aug. 23, according to the Department of Public Health, which confirmed the infection through tests performed Wednesday.

The Brockton man, Francis E. Lorray, died Aug. 17. He was admitted to Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center on Aug. 4 and was in a coma. Eight days later, he was diagnosed with an EEE infection.