Mosquito control watching for virus

Tangipahoa and East Baton Rouge parishes have reported “positive pools” in their areas, meaning some mosquitoes there are carrying the potentially deadly West Nile virus.

The discovery of the virus east of the Mississippi River started about two weeks ago in East Baton Rouge, said Iberia Parish Mosquito Control’s temporary director Mike Stockstill. It doesn’t mean people locally have to worry yet, but he also noted the disease probably will be found this year in Iberia.

Based on research from past years, the timeline is about right for positives and spraying will be stepped up as the Fourth of July holiday approaches and the mosquito season goes into the summer months, he said.

“We (Iberia) haven’t gotten any (positives) as of yet,” Stockstill said. “But naturally, we know that July, August and September are three months of concern as it relates to West Nile and the proliferation of mosquitoes.”

Stockstill made his comments Thursday afternoon after he and assistant director Herff Jones attended an ArboNet meeting of area mosquito control programs in Baton Rouge.

West Nile, which can be transmitted by mosquitoes between birds or from birds to mammals, can cause encephalitis in humans and horses. The disease is not transmissible from horses or humans to other horses and humans.

Fewer than 1 percent of humans who become infected with the virus demonstrate any symptoms of the disease, though the virus seriously affects some species of birds, mainly crows and blue jays, causing death in the vast majority of infected birds.

One New Iberia man, Dennis Landry, died Nov. 21 last year from complications due to West Nile. He was one of 11 people statewide who died from West Nile.

ArboNet keeps track of all testing done in all parishes of mosquito pools and dead birds, Stockstill said. As such — and because West Nile is endemic in South Louisiana after arriving in New York in 1999 and in Louisiana in 2001 — ArboNet also keeps up with West Nile surveillance.

“This is about the second week they’ve been getting positive pools,” Stockstill said of EBR and Tangipahoa.

A mosquito pool is a collection of eggs officials sample and send in for testing.

“We’re expecting to have some positives, but we just don’t know when,” Stockstill said. “When we get them we’ll follow CDC (Center for Disease Control) guidelines for emergency spraying.”

Guidelines call for three consecutive nights of spraying in the areas where the mosquitoes were found. For now, people should wear long sleeves when possible, use mosquito sprays with DEET and try to stay away from the outdoors at dawn and dusk.

“It’s a medical fact that West Nile is endemic in South Louisiana,” Stockstill said. “And the mosquito activity is more or less associated with climactic conditions. Because of heat, humidity and the rainfall (in summer) those conditions come together, and they propagate mosquitoes. Some of them carry disease, and that’s why we have to be on our guard.”

Because Fourth of July falls on the first Tuesday of the month — normally the day of the Mosquito Board’s meeting — the next regular meeting has been moved to July 11 at 6 p.m. at the Mosquito Abatement District office at 5217 North/South Taxi Road at Acadiana Regional Airport.

The board will discuss contingency plans for increased spraying if West Nile is found, and Stockstill will make a plea to the board and, on July 19, to the Iberia Parish Council for “supporting revenue for potential disease outbreak” — that is, West Nile virus, Eastern Equine encephalitis and St. Louis encephalitis.

The seven-member board also will review the Iberia Parish Mosquito Control audit of 2005 as it relates to the “surplus funds” funneled back to the various Iberia Parish municipalities.

“I think everyone’s going to be satisfied because it’s more than anticipated last budget year,” Stockstill noted.

Stockstill and Jones also will discuss surveillance information and will request that the board OK its investigation of pricing for aerial operations.