State will spray at Pachaug forest
Effort aimed at mosquitoes carrying dangerous virus
Fears that an outbreak of mosquitoes carrying the Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus could turn deadly have convinced Connecticut officials to close campgrounds and begin pesticide spraying in Pachaug State Forest.
The anti-mosquito spraying of Connecticut’s largest state forest is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Monday and is the first time since 2013 that the state has used pesticides to combat potentially lethal mosquito outbreaks. Pachaug State Forest is located in the eastern part of the state and covers portions of six towns.
A similar boom in mosquito populations carrying the EEE virus six years ago resulted in one death in Connecticut. In 2013, the state also sprayed pesticides at Pachaug State Forest in an effort to cut the risk the virus would spread.
“We feel quite confident … that in the absence of any intervention we will continue to see an increased build-up of the virus in the mosquito population,” Theodore Andreadis, director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, said Friday.
“The entire northeast is experiencing unprecedented EEE
mosquito activity,” said Andreadis. The agricultural experiment station’s statewide program of mosquito trapping earlier this week reported finding increasing numbers of mosquitoes infected with EEE and the West Nile virus in various towns across the state.
West Nile virus is the most common mosquitoborne disease in the U.S. While far less lethal than EEE, West Nile virus is more widespread and can be serious and even fatal in a small number of infections.
State experts say Pachaug State Forest is an area “where high concentrations of mosquitoes infected with the EEE virus and West Nile virus have been identified, including mosquito species known to bite humans.” On Aug. 16, the state closed two popular campgrounds at the state forest, the Mt. Misery campground and the nearby Horse Camp, which is also known as Frog Hollow Horse Camp.
The pesticide being used in the spraying is called “Anvil” and its active ingredient is “d-phenothrin,” which is also known as “Sumethrin.” State officials say this pesticide is similar to natural sprays used indoors to kill fleas and flying insects. Andreadis said this type of pesticide “breaks down very quickly” in the environment and that “human exposure will be basically nil." Pachaug State Forest covers 26,477 acres in portions of Voluntown, Sterling, Plainfield, Griswold, North Stonington and Preston. The state’s decision to close the campgrounds has drawn criticism from some area residents. “Why are they chasing money out of the state?” asked Sharon Viadella, a Griswold resident and a member of Friends of Pachaug Forest.
Viadella said the closure of the campgrounds has already hurt sales at “over half the businesses” in Voluntown. She said summer campers are very important to businesses in Voluntown and other area communities.
“I would put an alert out there on mosquitoes,” Viadella said when asked what the state should have done this summer. “Let the campers make the decision themselves.”
But Andreadis strongly disagreed. “It’s not an overreaction,” he said. “We think this is a prudent measure.”
Andreadis said mosquitoes carrying the EEE virus have been reported in central New York, Suffolk County on Long Island, and in various portions of Massachusetts. “This is a regional phenomenon,” he said.
“Massachusetts already has two human cases,” according to Andreadis. He said there have already been two horses in Connecticut infected with the EEE virus.
Approximately six cases of human EEE infections are reported in the U.S. annually. A person who contracts Eastern Equine Encephalitis has about a 33 percent chance of dying and most survivors of the virus suffer significant brain damage.
Andreadis said the high concentrations of EEE-infected mosquitoes “are right now confined to Voluntown” but that one mosquito trapped recently in Madison was also found to be carrying the virus.
Mosquitoes capable of transmitting West Nile virus have now been trapped in 14 Connecticut communities. Those include Chester, East Haven, Greenwich, Groton, Hartford, Manchester, New Haven, North Haven, North Stonington, South Windsor, Stamford, Voluntown, West Haven and Wethersfield.
Most people who contract West Nile don’t even feel sick, according to experts from the federal Centers for Disease Control. About one in five people who are infected develop fevers and other symptoms and approximately one in every 150 cases develop serious illnesses.