Control of West Nile Virus Includes ‘Neighborhood Watch’ 8/29/02

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Entomologist Alberto Broce normally isn’t the one to encourage starting a neighborhood watch.

But that’s the posture he’s taking now as he watches the almost daily increase of Kansas counties with confirmed cases of West Nile Virus-carrying mosquitoes.

Since the state’s first confirmed case was reported Aug. 8, Broce and the staff in Kansas State University’s Department of Entomology have taken an average 200 calls per day from people who are either reporting dead birds or asking questions about the disease’s spread.

Dead Birds No Longer Being Collected in Some Kansas Counties

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Officials monitoring the spread of the West Nile Virus in Kansas are no longer collecting birds from the following counties: Barton, Comanche, Cowley, Dickinson, Ellsworth, Ford, Jefferson, Jewell, Johnson, McPherson, Meade, Montgomery, Norton, Ottawa, Pawnee, Phillips, Pratt, Reno, Rice, Sedgwick, Stafford, Wallace and Washington.

Reports of dead birds in those counties are still valuable to the statewide surveillance program, however. So, residents are being asked to use the World Wide Web to do that reporting. The web address is http://www.nhm.ku.edu/birds. (Click on "report dead birds" and follow instructions.)

The surveillance program is particularly interested in dead bluejays and crows, usually the first signs of West Nile Virus in an area.

Residents in counties not listed can still report dead birds by calling the state’s toll-free hotline at 1-866-452-7810 or, in Manhattan, by calling 532-2569.

West Nile Virus spreads from birds through mosquitoes to both humans and horses. The disease was first found in the United States in New York City three years ago.

K-State Research and Extension is working with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to maintain the state’s official hotline for reporting suspected cases of West Nile Virus.

What Broce is able to tell worried callers is that part of the solution begins in their own back yard.

In urban areas, the mosquito species that commonly carry the West Nile Virus typically do not travel more than "one or two blocks" from where they emerge, he said.

That means homeowners need to look for areas in their yards where standing water can be a mosquito breeding ground. They should help "police" their neighbors’ yards, too, and stage a unified effort to rid their neighborhood of potential mosquito-breeding sites. Thus, a new kind of ‘neighborhood watch.’

Broce said mosquitoes can breed for four days in just 1 teaspoon of water. Some of their favored sites include flower pots, trash cans, clogged rain gutters, kids’ swimming pools, old tires and more.

When possible, yard items should be turned upside down so they don’t hold water now or collect it in the future, Broce said.

In rural areas, yet another species can carry the West Nile Virus, generally in open fields or pastures. An animal’s hoof print can gather enough water to allow mosquitoes to breed, Broce noted. And the mosquitoes that breed in open fields have been known to travel further than their urban counterparts, sometimes as far as 10-15 miles.

Broce and fellow K-State entomologist Ludek Zurek have posted their recommendations for agricultural mosquito control in every local Extension office in Kansas.

Among their recommendations is for farmers to make sure their property is serving as a mosquito breeding ground before applying any chemical controls. The entomologists said a simple test is to use a white dipper or even an empty white cottage cheese container to scoop out a water sample; mosquito wigglers (larvae) and tumblers (pupae) are easy to recognize against a white surface.

To Help in the West Nile Virus Watch ...

1. Look for recently felled members of the Corvidae family, including bluejays, crows and ravens – not starlings. [Note: Once a positive case shows up in a county’s horses or humans – or in more than two reported bird fatalities – no more birds are being collected from that location. Thus, several Kansas counties’ residents are now being encouraged to report dead birds to the website at http://www.nhm.ku.edu/birds, not to the hotline. See box]

2. Collect only birds found on your property. Don’t report birds killed by accident (e.g., road kill). Don’t report groups of dead birds. (Mosquitoes don’t swarm to attack flocks. En masse bird deaths usually result from some kind of poisoning.)

3. To collect a sample, insert your hand into a plastic bag. Pick up the bird with that plastic-covered hand. Peel the bag inside out – off your hand and onto the bird – never directly touching the bird, exposing yourself to any parasites or bacteria it may be carrying.

4. Seal or twist-tie the bag. Then insert it into another bag, which you also seal or tie.

5. Get the double-bagged sample into the freezer as soon as possible. It cannot harm frozen foods.

6. Call K-State Research and Extension’s West Nile Virus hotline at 1-866-452-7810 (or, in the Manhattan area, at 532-2569). Be prepared to describe the bird and the circumstances under which you found it. The hotline team there will pick up qualified samples as soon as possible.

7. For help, consult the Website at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/westnilevirus or call your local county Extension agent.

Meanwhile, Broce continues to urge everyone to take precautions to avoid being bitten by a mosquito carrying the West Nile Virus, including:

* Reduce your time outdoors, especially between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active.

* Use a repellent that contains Deet. Carefully follow guidelines, especially if using on children.

* Repair and continually check screens on home doors and windows. Mosquitoes are "very persistent," Broce said. "They’ll keep trying to get in." A small hole or tear is enough for a mosquito to wiggle through and gain entry into a home.

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.