Mosquitoes bring health risks after rain
With this month’s deluge of rain — and a weekend forecast for more, state and local health officials are warning of an increased risk for mosquito-borne illnesses, including Zika, yellow fever and chikungunya, all carried by the same mosquito.
First comes the rain, then mosquitoes, said Kelly Deutsch, mosquito-control manager for Orange County.
“We’re going to have a lot of standing water unfortunately, and the opportunities for mosquitoes to produce are going to increase,” she said.
Viruses for Zika and other diseases are spread by bites from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the so-called “container-breeding mosquito.” The insect, common to Central Florida, prefers to lay its eggs in or around standing water that collects in man-made containers such as birdbaths, buckets, children’s toys, pools, planters and sandboxes.
When it rains or water covers the eggs, they hatch and become adults in about a
week.
Deutsch said the county received a Florida Department of Health grant this week to add chemicals and equipment to their arsenal to fight mosquitoes — and not just because of Zika.
“All mosquito-borne illnesses are given the same level of concern,” she said.
In its battle with mosquitoes, the county is relying more and more on the eastern mosquito fish, a species of freshwater fish with a taste for mosquito larvae, Deutsch said.
The inch-and-a-half long minnows fish, native to Florida and most of the Southern U.S., can be tossed in lakes, ponds, algae-laden swimming pools and public fountains to keep mosquitoes at bay with its appetite, she said.
The Florida Department of Health in Orange County enlisted the fish in its mosquito fights two years ago.
Last year, the agency deployed the fish in retention ponds at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.
“We are in the early stages of expanding our mosquito fish program,” spokesman Kent Donahue said. “In the future, we will partner with United Global Outreach in Bithlo to grow mosquito fish.”
The state health department also sent out mosquito warnings this week through county health agencies, advising residents of an increase in “mosquito-borne disease activity” in several counties across the state.
Although no human cases have been reported, several horses and emus have tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis virus, which is spread through mosquito bites.
In the advisory, the department also noted West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus has also been found in mosquitoes in Florida.
So far this year the state health department has reported 41 Zika cases statewide, including nine in Orange County and three in Osceola County.
All are travel-related cases brought to Florida by people who were already infected with the virus when they arrived from somewhere else, like Zika hotbed areas in Central and South America or the Caribbean.
Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection during pregnancy can cause birth defects, including microcephaly in which the baby is born with a small head.
There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika, according to the Centers for Diseaese Control and Prevention.
The CDC website recommends steps people can take to keep mosquitoes at bay.
Once a week, empty and scrub, turn over, cover, or throw out containers that hold water, such as vases, pet water bowls, flowerpot saucers, discarded tires in the backyard, buckets, pool covers, birdbaths and rain barrels.