This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
07/22/2020 09:00 AMWith a worldwide pandemic to worry about, people might be excused for forgetting about mosquito- and tick-borne illnesses. But there’s bad news: They’re still a concern.
Westbrook’s Public Health Department, as in previous years, has hired Madison-based Innovative Mosquito Management, Inc., to abate the town’s mosquito population.
The company’s owner, Kurt Ehrhart, is “extremely knowledgeable and probably the top of his field,” said Westbrook Director Health Zachary Faiella, noting that several other municipalities in the state also contract with the company to manage mosquitoes.
The company identifies mosquito breeding areas, such as “marshes, ponds—any standing water that they observe during inspection, including storm drains, which hold standing water at the bottom,” Faiella explained.
It then treats those areas with a larvicide and provides the town with a report of the location, amount of standing water, the number of larvae observed, and the amount of larvicide applied.
“The larvicide they use is used across the United States,” said Faiella. “There’s no toxicity to humans or the environment other than [mosquitoes that are] specifically targeted. It won’t harm people, pets, or other insects, including honey bees. It’s approved in organic farming operations.
“We have to be careful what we put in our environment as we are right next to the Sound and we don’t want anything to have a negative impact on our water quality,” he continued.
The treatments “won’t eliminate all mosquitoes in Westbrook, but they will reduce mosquito larvae, which will in turn, will prevent adult mosquitoes from growing and reduces the risk of people being bitten and contracting viruses,” he said.
Statewide Efforts
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) this year expanded the number of its mosquito trapping and testing sites from 92 to 108. The 16 new locations are all in eastern Connecticut, considered a high-risk zone for equine encephalitis (EEE), although only four cases were reported in the state last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CAES sites also test mosquitoes for West Nile virus.
And there is a third mosquito-borne disease CAES is testing for: Jamestown Canyon virus, although reported throughout the United States, has been largely prevalent in the northern Midwestern states of Minnesota and Wisconsin and rare elsewhere. From 2009 to 2018, only one Connecticut case was reported to the CDC. This summer, however, CAES has discovered five mosquitoes with Jamestown Canyon virus to date and it is the only disease discovered among trapped mosquitoes thus far in 2020. Those mosquitoes were trapped in North Stonington, Waterford, and Westport.
Common symptoms of Jamestown Canyon virus are fever, headache and fatigue; it “can rarely cause severe disease, including infection of the brain (encephalitis) or the lining around the brain (meningitis),” according to the CDC.
There are no vaccines for any of these diseases; the only prevention is avoiding mosquito bites.
“Westbrook is lucky to have a testing station in town here,” said Faiella.
The Westbrook site pre-existed CAES’s expansion.
Last year, mosquitoes trapped and tested by CAES in Westbrook were negative for all viruses tested for by CAES, according to Faiella. However, earlier this month, Massachusetts health officials detected EEE in a mosquito sample from a town there and Faiella believes it is only a matter of time before EEE is detected in Connecticut.
“I’m checking the trapping station information” on a regular basis in order to monitor the situation, he said.
Ticks, Too
As for ticks, Lyme disease continues to be the prevalent tick-borne disease in Connecticut and is transmitted only by blacklegged ticks (commonly known as deer ticks), which can hard to spot, particularly as the majority of people infected with Lyme contract it from nymphs (younger ticks), which can be as small as two millimeters, according to the CDC. In most cases, it takes 36 to 48 hours for the tick to transmit the disease, so it’s crucial to remove ticks as soon as possible.
In February, the CAES released the results of its first statewide active tick surveillance effort, a federally funded program to track the prevalence of both ticks and tick-borne diseases. More than 2,500 ticks collected from spring to fall 2019 from 40 publicly accessible locations in all eight Connecticut counties were screened for five pathogens that cause the following diseases in humans: anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Lyme disease, hard tick relapsing fever, and Powassan encephalitis. All are caused by blacklegged (deer) ticks.
In 2019, blacklegged (deer) ticks were the most commonly collected, at 2,068, followed by American dog ticks, at 437. While only three lone star ticks and two Asian longhorned ticks were found, both species were determined to be “emerging” in Connecticut; the single Asian longhorned tick found in New London County was the first ever found there. Asian longhorned ticks were first reported in the United States in 2017.
What Individuals Can Do
To avoid mosquito bites, people should use an insect repellent registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Faiella said. Ticks repellents can also be found there.
“You should have it on when you go out, especially between dusk and dawn,” he said, although it’s preferable to avoid going out during those hours, when mosquitoes are most active.
Swampy areas and places with standing water are mosquito breeding grounds.
Pesticides with the active ingredients of DEET or oil of lemon eucalyptus (which is not the same as eucalyptus oil) are most effective against mosquitoes, according to Faiella.
“DEET is the gold standard of insect repellents,” he said. “Oil of lemon eucalyptus is the only plant-based active ingredient recommended by the CDC.”
Oil of lemon eucalyptus has been shown to be effective in peer-reviewed studies, he added.
The CDC recommends following package directions (including reapplying when necessary), never applying pesticides under clothing, and applying sunscreen first with pesticides on top.
Permethrin may be used on clothing, gear (such as tents or mosquito nets), or shoes, but should not be sprayed directly on skin. Permethrin-sprayed clothing will continue to protect the wearer through several washings, according to the CDC.
Faiella recommends “spraying clothes and wearing long sleeves and long pants when going out hiking or camping.”
At home, anything collecting water should be changed frequently (bird baths) or removed (tires).
“Cover trash cans,” said Faiella. “Change the water in bird baths a couple of times a week. Ensure that your gutters are completely draining and not clogged.
“It’s a violation of Connecticut state regulations, specifically 19-13-B1...to have stagnant water on a property within 1,000 feet of a residence,” he said. “It’s officially a public nuisance. We make those complaints a priority, especially right now.”
More information about EPA recommended repellents for mosquitoes and ticks may be found at epa.gov/insect-repellents.