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New mosquito tests come back negative
By BLAINE CRIMMINS, Staff writer
The Colony’s Parks and Recreation Department on Friday received word that mosquitoes captured last week for testing came back negative for West Nile virus. This follows a week where a mosquito a draining ditch near the Aquatic Park was confirmed to be carrying the virus.
The most recent tests were conducted at the Turner Soccer Fields, Hawaiian Falls Waterpark, and The Colony Aquatic Park.
Community Service Coordinator Pam Nelson said the city will continue testing and monitoring mosquitoes to determine if any are carrying West Nile.
As a result, a series of low mist treatments were conducted Monday through Wednesday last week along the ditch behind the Aquatic Park to kill mosquitoes in that area.
Although recent tests were negative for the disease, a correlation can not be drawn between the treatments and the results, said Jerry Young, the city’s certified chemical applicator in charge of pest control.
“We were just trying to perform those tests to do a follow-up. We can’t say the treatment took care of it because that mosquito we tested could have come from a different area,” he said. “We want to keep contact on that area and check other areas around it to be sure we still have control of it.”
Young said the city feels it does have control of the situation and that residents will be advised if things change.
The city has followed a plan of prevention and testing to address mosquito issues throughout the city for the past two years. The program identifies areas on public property such as drainage channels and ponds that may hold standing water for periods of time. These pools of water are treated with a larvacide which kills the larvae before it matures into adult mosquitoes.
Nelson said that not all mosquitoes are capable of carrying diseases. Most are considered nuisance mosquitoes and are thus of no danger. Only certain types are disease carriers.
To improve the odds of avoiding West Nile virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages use of an insect repellent while outdoors. DEET, plant-based oil of lemon eucalyptus, picaridin and IR3535 are all repellents recommended by the CDC and have been registered with the Environmental Protection Agency for efficacy and safety.
Mosquitoes can bite at anytime but most of those that carry West Nile virus bite from around sundown to around sun-up.
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