Nine mosquito traps in Gerlach, Nevada, a town near Black Rock Desert, have tested positive for West Nile virus. Sixty-five thousand people attended this year’s Burning Man Festival in Black Rock and could now be at risk of contracting the mosquito-borne disease. [Read more…] about Mosquito Traps At Burning Man Festival Detect West Nile Virus
West Nile Virus
Summer’s Mosquito Fight Begins With Mosquito Traps
Armed with buckets, odorous lures, nets and poison sprays, Columbus Public Health workers are prepared to take on the hordes of blood-sucking insects that can ruin summer for outdoors lovers. The agency hopes to outflank mosquitoes this year by increasing the number of traps across the city. Health workers will be trapping the insects at 81 locations this year, setting and collecting about 40 traps each week. Officials say they hope that setting the traps in permanent locations will help track trends in mosquito behavior better and determine where further action — such as spraying pesticides — is needed.
Although most mosquito species found in Ohio are merely an annoyance, the few that can transmit disease are worrisome. The Ohio Department of Health reported 24 human cases of West Nile virus last year and three deaths statewide. The agency also employs a few traps that use lights and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) to lure mosquitoes. Both will trap Culex mosquitoes, which carry West Nile, said Joseph Conlon, a technical adviser for the American Mosquito Control Association. Read more
Mosquitoes are back and West Nile Virus Testing begins
The Bureau/Putnam County Health Department says it’s not too soon to be thinking about mosquitoes and West Nile Virus. Kurt Kuchle, director of health protection for the two-county health department, said the health department has begun its surveillance program to detect possible West Nile Virus (WNV) activity in the local area. The surveillance program consists of testing mosquitoes collected from traps and also submitting dead birds for testing at the state lab.
The mosquito traps are placed each year in the vicinity of public access/gathering areas in both Bureau and Putnam counties. The health department has four traps, with typically three of those traps placed in Bureau County and one trap in Putnam County. Read more
Mosquito Trapping To Continue in Phoenix
Mosquito activity is expected to decrease as temperatures fall. But the Maricopa County Environmental Services Department will continue to fog and set traps in Phoenix to prevent the spread of the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus.
And as the busy season for mosquitoes winds down, county spokesman Johnny Diloné said at least 500 mosquito traps will be set a week across the county.
Officials examine the traps for one of three conditions: if any of the trapped mosquitoes carry West Nile Virus, if it has more than 30 Culex mosquitoes (which are more likely to carry West Nile Virus), or if there are 300 or more mosquitoes in a trap.
Diloné said if the traps have one or more of these conditions, the county will fog the area. Exterminators fog between midnight and 5 a.m. — when most people are inside and won’t be fully exposed to the Permanone 30-30 and Zenivex E4 chemicals — around a square mile of where they collected the traps. One component of the traps is dry ice, which mimics human breathing and attracts mosquitoes. Read more
New Database Shows Mosquito Trapping and Testing for West Nile Virus in North Texas
Since last summer’s epidemic, the health departments in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties have significantly increased testing for the West Nile virus, trapping more mosquitoes than ever before.
NBC 5 Investigates built an in-depth, online database designed to show by zip code how frequently the four largest counties in North Texas conduct mosquito trapping and testing for West Nile virus. The database also provides the most recent date a zip code was tested and the number of mosquitoes in that zip code that could potentially carry the West Nile virus. Culex mosquitoes are the ones that can potentially carry the virus. Southern House mosquitoes are the Culex species found most frequently in North Texas.
To get that information, NBC 5 Investigates spent weeks filing open records requests with the health departments in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties to obtain this year’s test results. Those results were compared with the data that each health department releases publicly online
Only Collin and Denton counties provide those numbers online and only Denton County breaks it down to zip code level.
The county health departments said they will provide more details to anyone who files a request for information like NBC 5 Investigates did. But on their websites, they’re trying to strike a balance between too little information and too much.
“Whether we strike that right balance or not, I don’t know. We try to find that balance — we listen to the calls coming in from the people.” source
Mosquito Traps Offer Peace of Mind
Irving city now has ten human cases of West Nile and that makes residents worried.
The city says it sprays around Irving often, but also offers personal mosquito traps as peace of mind for residents. If a resident wants a trap they have to call the city’s mosquito hotline at 972-721-3755.
The stinky trap is meant to mimic stagnant water and attract female mosquitoes in the area. The trap has a fan which is supposed to suck up the mosquitoes and keep them in the net.