State Reports Mosquitoes Positive for West Nile Virus in Stamford, CT.
This is something that I don’t think a lot of us think about and in this day and age of disease’s and illness’s we should all be cautious especially those who head for the outdoors. Between summer activities like fishing, biking, backyard BBQ’s, lawn maintenance not to mention scouting for hunting season and tree stand placement and periodically checking those all important Trail Cam Monitors you never know what kinds of skeeters are lurking around waiting to bite.
I know that this year could potentially be a bad year for Mosquito’s because of all the rain we have been getting at least here in the Northeast. I know I practically got eaten alive during Turkey season. This short article from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection just goes to show that these pests can be dangerous.
By: Rick Kratzke
Photo from: Google Images
The State Mosquito Management Program today announced that mosquitoes trapped in Stamford on July 7, 2008 have tested positive for West Nile virus (WNV). These are the first WNV-positive mosquitoes identified in Stamford by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) this year.
So far this summer, positive mosquitoes have been identified in three towns – Bridgeport, Stamford and Stonington. The infected mosquito species trapped in Stamford was Culex pipiens, a common mosquito species found in residential areas and one of the species that is responsible for spreading WNV in Connecticut. During 2007, WNV was identified in mosquitoes in 18 towns.
“The isolations of West Nile virus from Culex mosquitoes in three towns and the expected warm weather are reasons to believe that the virus is building across the state,” said Theodore G. Andreadis, Ph.D., Chief Medical Entomologist, CAES. “We will continue to monitor mosquitoes through the summer and fall and ask property owners to reduce mosquito breeding areas.”
To monitor WNV, the CAES maintains a network of 91 mosquito-trapping stations in 72 municipalities throughout the state from June through October. Mosquito traps are set every ten days at each site on a rotating basis. Mosquitoes are grouped (pooled) for testing according to species, collection site, and date.
“We are fortunate that Connecticut has the ability to conduct statewide monitoring of mosquito transmitted diseases,” said J. Robert Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A, Department of Public Health (DPH) Commissioner. “Announcements alerting the public to important findings should be taken seriously. The DPH is asking residents to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites especially the elderly living in areas where WNV is identified.”
For information on West Nile virus and what you can do to prevent getting bitten by mosquitoes, visit the Connecticut Mosquito Management Program Web site at www.ct.gov/mosquito
Not good news, especially since they are so incredibly thick this year.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Over here we had our first cases of West Nile a few years back - my cousin got it last year and it wiped him out pretty good. Horses are a real problem - the first year it was over here, there must have been ten horses just in our immediate area that died from it…people just weren’t prepared. If you have horses and West Nile is around - get them immunized! And if you’ve got children - make sure they’re sprayed down real good with insect protection before you take ‘em outside.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Arthur, It is a major concern that everyone should be aware of.
Tom, that is terrible but unfortunately we can protect everyone and all our animals too.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:36 am
[...] read about Connecticut’s latest West Nile case, head over to the Tails and Trails blog for the complete [...]
July 18th, 2008 at 3:52 pm