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Fayette Co. using $34,000 grant to help combat West Nile virus

By Joyce Koballa jkoballa@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Associated Press

In this file photo, mosquitos are sorted at the Dallas County mosquito lab in Dallas.

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West Nile risk in Pa. counties graphic

With mosquito season in full swing and an alert about a new type of West Nile virus making its way into the United States, Fayette County is using $34,000 in grant money to survey and control the mosquitoes that could carry the infection.

Fayette is one of 26 Pennsylvania counties that received a portion of $2.1 million in West Nile Virus Control Program grants recently awarded by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

The program has been ongoing since 2000 when West Nile first appeared in the state and is managed in Fayette through Penn State Cooperative Extension.

“Mosquitoes tend to follow people because people produce standing water, where the insect breeds,” said Amanda Witman, DEP spokeswoman.

Witman said DEP developed the funding proposals in conjunction with county officials based on historic surveillance data. “We do an analysis of what counties are most at risk for having mosquitoes that have the West Nile virus.”

According to Witman, the first detection of mosquitoes this year identified with West Nile was in May in Dauphin County.

While Allegheny County received the largest amount of $144,009, Witman said Greene County was not awarded funding because it conducts its own surveillance program paid for with county government funds.

Summer is peak season for West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne infection that has occurred as an outbreak every summer since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Certain species like the common household mosquito carry the West Nile virus, which can cause humans to contract West Nile Encephalitis, an infection that can result in an inflammation of the brain.

So far, experts say the season is off to a fairly mild start and hope that rainy weather across much of the country will keep infection rates down as it washes away mosquitoes. As of July, Fayette County has been classified as a “remote risk” county.

According to the CDC, as of July, 18 patients have reported cases with the virus detected in humans, mosquitoes or birds in 24 states. Last year, DEP detected 1,213 mosquito samples, 28 avian specimens, two horses and 11 humans in the state infected with West Nile Virus.

According to Witman, Fayette had five mosquito samples in 2013 that tested positive for West Nile along with one bird.

Witman added that Greene County had one mosquito and no bird samples that tested positive.

To reduce the risk of West Nile, DEP and county officials use a combination of education, source reduction and mosquito control products.

Bryan Diehl, WNV coordinator for DEP, said mosquito traps were placed throughout the county where population centers are more concentrated, especially in Uniontown, Connellsville, Masontown, Belle Vernon and Brownsville.

Sewage treatment plants were also a primary location for the traps.

Witman said larval control products derived from soil bacteria are used in granule or tablet form mainly in ponds and storm water retention basins with spray plans based on individual county surveillance data.

If mosquitoes pose an elevated risk of infecting people, Witman said, products derived from the chrysanthemum flower are used.

According to Witman, the adult mosquito control products are effective in reducing mosquito populations and pose little to no harmful effect to humans, plants or animals.

According to the CDC, in 2013 West Nile appeared in 48 states, with Washington being the only state with no reports of the virus.

In total, 2,469 human cases were reported to the federal government.

Of those patients, 119 individuals died.

The CDC reported the summer of 2012 as the worst West Nile season in a decade with Witman noting 3,410 mosquito samples in Pennsylvania tested positive then for the virus.

Of that number, Witman said 39 samples were from Fayette County and two from Greene County.

The Pennsylvania Health Department recently issued an alert about a special type of virus being spread by Asian Tiger mosquitoes called Chikunguyna or CHIK.

The virus is making its way to the U.S. from travelers returning from the Caribbean.

The most common symptoms of chikungunya virus infection are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling or rash.

“We have an eye on what’s happening with CHIK, but we’re looking at the Asian Tiger (mosquito) was more of a nuisance at this time,” said Diehl.

Diehl said DEP has continued to monitor the Asian Tiger mosquito since 2000, with the species first detected in Fayette in 2003 and 2004 at a tire retreading facility.

Although eggs and larvae from the species was found, Diehl said DEP was able to wipe out the mosquito because it never established itself over the winter.

“It seems like they’re pushing further and further north into Pittsburgh over the last five years,” said Diehl.

While CHIK is not a major threat in Pennsylvania, Witman said DEP recently identified the Asian Tiger mosquito in the South Central and Southeast region based on surveillance.

As a result, Witman said DEP initiated a pilot program in York County to test and identify the best means to control the species because it doesn’t always respond to the control products as the traditional house mosquito that carries West Nile.

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