Sudbury Girl With EEE May Leave Hospital Soon

SUDBURY, MA — The 5-year-old Sudbury kindergartner diagnosed earlier in September with Eastern equine encephalitis may leave the hospital in a few weeks, according to friends of the girl's family. Sophia Garabedian is being treated at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Center after a nearly month-long battle with EEE.

"Sophia continues to show signs of improvement. The doctors think she will be able to go home some time over the next couple weeks," family friend Debbie Moynihan wrote in an update on Sophia's GoFundMe fundraiser page on Saturday.

Although Sophia has survived the deadly illness — EEE has a mortality rate of between 50 and 75 percent — she will need daily outpatient therapy after she gets out of the hospital, Moynihan said.

Sophia's bout with mosquito-borne EEE began on Sept. 3 when she was rushed to Boston Children's Hospital with severe flu-like symptoms. She was diagnosed with the virus on Sept. 6, and was experiencing brain swelling and possible seizures. But by Sept. 13, she was improving, and was moved out of the intensive-care unit.

EEE reemerged in Massachusetts this summer for the first time since 2012, sickening 12 people so far and killing three. The latest case was confirmed in a Hampden woman in her 70s, according to the state Department of Public Health. The risk of contracting EEE has been "critical" in parts of central and southeast Massachusetts, according to health officials.

In Garabedian's case, Moynihan and other family friends are still trying to raise $200,000 to pay for Sophia's hospital care and rehabilitation. As of Monday morning, they had raised just under $190,000.