NORTHAMPTON – City health officials will team up with a mosquito control company to monitor and treat ditches, swamps, rainwater pools and other wet areas that can breed mosquitoes and spread disease, Mayor David J. Narkewicz announced.
In addition to identifying breeding areas and using “limited larvicide treatments” on ones that appear to pose a threat, officials are creating a guide for city health, public health and emergency departments to use in case of a viral outbreak.
“We take the potential public health threat posed by the virus-carrying mosquitoes very seriously,” Narkewicz said in a statement. “We proactively put this plan in place to ensure that we are prepared and coordinated in the event of an outbreak.”
The city’s effort will be coordinated with Vector Disease Control International, an Arkansas-based firm that works with municipalities and mosquito abatement districts on mapping high-risk areas and working to prevent and contain outbreaks.
Mosquitoes in the city will be trapped, identified and analyzed for their potential to spread disease. The pools of water in which they breed will be tested for West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which have already become an issue in Massachusetts, as well as guarding against the Zika virus that has created a health threat in South and Central America and has American officials on guard.
With such diseases looming, Northampton Public Health Director Merridith O’Leary said, “it is important to conduct surveillance to understand the risk of disease to our community.”
Residents wanting more information about reducing mosquito populations and protecting themselves can visit the city website: www.northamptonma.gov/1597/Mosquito-Information.
Executive Editor Jeffrey Good may be reached at jgood@gazettenet.com