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County combats mosquitoes |
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Thursday, 02 July 2009 |
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By Emily Hone BLACKFOOT — Idaho has its first confirmed case of West Nile virus in a Bonneville County man who was hospitalized with the disease, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced Tuesday, but no mosquitoes carrying the virus have yet been found in Bingham County.
Tim Bennett, Northwest Regional Director for Vector Control, the Louisiana firm contracted by the local Mosquito Abatement District to combat mosquitoes in Bingham County, said Culex mosquitoes, the variety that carries WNV, have been suppressed by the cool, wet weather and are just starting to emerge as the temperature warms.
“We’ve been getting hundreds of calls reporting mosquitoes,” Bennett said, “but the early ones are the nuisance varieties, the floodwater mosquitoes that don’t carry the disease. The Culex are a warm weather mosquito and we’ll be seeing more of them.”
Bennett and laboratory technician Stephanie Kline were sorting through hundreds of gnats and mosquitoes Wednesday that were collected in traps around the Equalizing Reservoir east of Blackfoot and testing the Culex they found for the virus.
So far, Kline said, she’s tested 110 Culex mosquitoes from 10 locations in the county without finding any with the virus.
Bennett said trapping has been done weekly across the county since early May, but primarily along the Snake River Corridor from Shelley to Aberdeen.
His crew of 13 people have been ground fogging foliage and spraying larvacide on water throughout the county since the first of May, but the continued high water makes some places inaccessible Bennett said.
He has two crews working, one from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the other from 7 p.m. to midnight, but until this week their efforts have been hampered by the bad weather.
“The weather has been horrible for mosquito control, but great for producing mosquitoes,” he said.
“By law we can’t spray when it’s cooler than 50 degrees, the wind is stronger than 10 mph, or when it’s raining, but the amount of rainfall and floodwater we’re having is producing ideal conditions for mosquitoes, so people need to watch out.
“We don’t want them to be scared, just prepared. They need to start taking precautions — wear long sleeved shirts and pants when out of doors, make sure there are no receptacles like old tires, cans and bird baths sitting around their yards that can collect water, and make sure their rain gutters are emptied out and cleaned.”
Bennett said Memorial Day weekend produced an explosion of mosquitoes, and the area from Sportsman’s Park north of the American Falls Reservoir to Pingree already had a lot earlier. “But we’re getting a handle on it,” he said.
Barrier spraying was done around McTucker Ponds, other areas of Springfield and Jensen Grove in preparation for the Memorial Day weekend, and again Wednesday, he said. Upon request the firm will put down barrier sprays in advance of large group activities.
Bennett said no aerial spraying for adult mosquitoes has been contemplated in the county yet and will only take place if the abatement district board of directors recommends it. “If we find a mosquito positive for the virus we would hit that area really hard with the fogging trucks,” he said.
Craig Rowland, emergency management coordinator for Bingham County, said anyone finding high populations of mosquitoes on their property should call 684-5112 so Vector Control can come out and spray them.
Dr. Leslie Tengelsen, deputy state epidemiologist with the IDHW, said West Nile Virus can cause serious illness in all age groups, but especially in people over the age of 50. She said 36 Idahoans were stricken with the disease in 2008, and the infection contributed to one death.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 03 July 2009 )
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