Brief description: • This year marks the first time that regular airborne larvicide drops have been carried out in the district. • The goal is to help stop the spread of potential diseases by mosquitoes. • Since 2017, no more than 3 people have tested positive each year.
San Diego County plans to conduct the first regular airborne larvicide drops on 52 local waterways this year to stop mosquitoes from spreading potential diseases such as West Nile virus.
County officials said helicopters will drop larvicides if needed Wednesday and Thursday to cover nearly 1,400 acres of hard-to-reach potential mosquito breeding areas.
After West Nile virus emerged in the early 2000s, the county began using helicopters to drop solid granular larvicide into hard-to-reach areas of standing water in rivers, streams, ponds and other bodies of water where mosquitoes could breed. The county conducts aerial larvicide releases approximately once a month from April through October.
Larvicide will not harm people or pets, but will kill mosquito larvae before they develop into biting mosquitoes.
West Nile virus is primarily a disease of birds. However, mosquitoes can transmit the potentially fatal virus to humans by feeding on infected birds and then biting people.
Impact of West Nile virus in San Diego County has been relatively mild over the past few years. Since 2017, no more than three people have tested positive each year. But it is still dangerous and people should avoid mosquitoes.
Larvicidal drops are only part of a comprehensive vector control strategy. County vector control departments also monitor approximately 1,600 potential mosquito breeding areas each year and apply larvicides using a variety of methods (aerial, boat, truck, and hand). It also provides free mosquito-eating fish to the public, monitors and treats abandoned swimming pools, tests dead birds for West Nile virus, and monitors mosquito populations for potential mosquito-borne diseases.
County vector control officials are also reminding people to protect themselves from mosquitoes in and around their homes by finding and draining standing water to prevent the pests from breeding.
Mosquito prevention efforts will require more public assistance in recent years as several new species of invasive Aedes mosquitoes have established themselves here. Some of these mosquitoes, if they become infected by biting a sick person and then feeding on others, can spread diseases that do not exist here, including Zika, dengue fever and chikungunya. Invasive Aedes mosquitoes prefer to live and breed around people’s homes and yards.
County vector control officials say the best way for people to protect themselves from mosquitoes is to follow the “Prevent, Protect, Report” guidelines.
Throw away or remove anything inside or outside your home that may hold water, such as flower pots, gutters, buckets, trash cans, toys, old tires and wheelbarrows. Mosquito fish are available free of charge through a vector control program and can be used to control mosquito breeding in standing water sources in home gardens such as unmaintained swimming pools, ponds, fountains and horse troughs.
Protect yourself from mosquito-borne diseases by wearing long-sleeved clothing and pants or using insect repellent when outdoors. Use an insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR3535. Make sure door and window screens are in good condition and secured to prevent insects from entering.
To report increased mosquito activity, stagnant, unmaintained swimming pools and other mosquito breeding grounds, and dead birds (dead crows, crows, jays, hawks and owls) to the County Department of Environmental Conservation and Quality’s Vector Control Program , please report this. call (858) 694-2888 or email Vector@sdcounty.ca.gov.
If you have your home tested for standing water and are still experiencing mosquito problems, you can contact the Vector Control Program at (858) 694-2888 and request an educational mosquito inspection.
For more information about mosquito-borne diseases, visit the San Diego County Fight Bites website. Here are some tips to help prevent your yard from becoming a mosquito breeding ground.
Post time: Jul-08-2024