Vector on the job in West Memphis

Vector on the job in West Memphis

Mosquito control efforts in full swing city wide

news@theeveningtimes.com

Just as the Zika virus has been included along with West Nile Disease (WND) on a list mosquito borne disease concerns, national legislation has been produced to fight mosquitoes.

Locally, Vector Disease Control announced to West Memphis City Council on Thursday its stepped up mosquito spaying and taken unprecedented actions to control the pests.

Aerial spraying over the city launched last Friday evening, May 20. Mosquito trucks have blanketed the city five evenings a week all month. The spray contractor in West Memphis, Vector Disease Control’s Earnest English, announced an unprecedented step to reduce the mosquito population at the second city council meeting in May.

Fly-overs and drive-bys are just the beginning.

“We’re concentrating on going house to house, with foot work,” said English.

“We’re trying to get into the places where misquotes breed like artificial containers around the house. We’ll be in the wrecking yards around old abandoned cars, to spray regularly trying to control it. We’ve been spraying tire piles, swimming pools.”

English said Vector would respond to calls about swarms.

“We’ve been doing that for years,” said English. “We go anytime we are called.”

“Arkansas has the kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus,” said Arkansas Department of Health Director Dr. Nate Smith in a recent interview, “so misquotes here in Arkansas can become infected if they bite someone who has Zika.”

There is no vaccine for Zika. The first case of confirmed Zika in the state was discovered in a foreign traveler after returning home. The disease presents as a fever, rash, joint pain and red, itchy eyes. Symptoms are generally mild and may last a week with some people not experiencing symptoms at all.

Pregnant women are most at risk for complications from the Zika virus with serious birth defects possible for the child.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 20 reported Zika pathogen is also a sexually transmitted disease (STD).

“A man with Zika virus can pass it to his female sex partners,” read the report.

“In the cases the CDC knows about men had symptoms. Zika can be passed before symptoms start, while he has symptoms, and after symptoms end.”

While Zika concerns have already begun, instances of WND traditionally peak in late summer. One case was reported in West Memphis by the county health unit during September last year. Good personal protection strategies include keeping screens in good repair, wearing long sleeve shirts and full length pants and using repellent. Avoid the being outdoors at dusk when mosquitoes are most active.

Eliminating puddles and water pooling spots goes a long way to reducing the swarms. Mosquitos can breed in as little amount of water as a bottle cap. Every resident may help lower the number of mosquitoes born in their own yard. Clean and chlorinate pools and spas. Properly grade and drain the landscape. Keep the yard picked up; empty standing water from flower pots and buckets, dispose of old tires and trash that collect water. Keep rain gutters clean so they can completely drain.

By John Rech