GREENFIELD — Though experts say the Zika virus that’s been spreading in South America hasn’t yet reached New England, viruses like West Nile and eastern equine encephalitis, or Triple E, are still a very real threat.
Now, a cooperative effort between Greenfield’s health department and Deerfield’s health board aims to get ahead of the mosquito population as the region moves into one of the most active parts of the mosquito season.
Nicole Zabko, Greenfield’s health director, said Greenfield and Deerfield have collectively negotiated a contract with Vector Disease Control International of Little Rock, Ark., to monitor the mosquitoes in both towns and assess the risk they might pose to their residents.
The state for years has operated an arbovirus monitoring program to keep an eye on the threat of mosquito-borne illness, but Zabko said western Massachusetts hasn’t historically been a priority for the program because the mosquitoes out here haven’t posed as much risk as ones on Cape Cod.
“West Nile Virus and Triple E weren’t as bad out here when they started,” she said. “It was in Carver and Plymouth, where the salt marshes are located and they were finding breeding grounds and transmission to humans.”
As the climate changes, however, so have the mosquito’s habitats and behavior, Zabko said. About six years ago, western Massachusetts began to see infection and activity, both among mosquitoes and humans.
Last year, Zabko said at least two mosquitoes came up positive for West Nile Virus near the Deerfield-Greenfield line during an impromptu state trapping test. In rare cases, the virus can be fatal in humans and horses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A few years ago, Triple E was detected in Orange, she said. “That put western Mass. on the radar. What we lack out here is any sort of formal mosquito district program. We’ve got a real gap in surveillance out here.”
The state mosquito control districts, overseen by the Department of Agricultural Resources, use a funding formula that takes funds out of state aid to towns and the services must be taken as a package, she said.
Zabko said efforts to get the state to establish a mosquito district in the area were cumbersome and expensive, while opting to work with VDCI allowed them to take an a la carte approach to the services as need presented itself, whether that’s just simple monitoring or active larvacidal control, among other services.
“It’s sort of a buy-in all or nothing, where you’re going to pay this much and you get these services,” Zabko said. “With us, we really like the option of the ala carte approach; we don’t need all the services a southeastern district is getting, but we’d have to pay for them. We want to be in the district, but don’t want every service.”
Conversely, VDCI is able to provide a menu of services to the towns, she said. “If you only have a certain amount of money, they’ll produce a plan for your budget,” she said. “This is just our start.”
The contract covers trapping, testing, notification, and education. Based on that information, the towns can assess the risk category their mosquitoes fall into and take appropriate control action, such as applying larvacide and reducing or even canceling outdoor activities such as sports and concerts near dusk and dawn.
The contract, with Deerfield’s participation, will cost the town’s $11,000 each, Zabko said, as opposed to $15,000 each if they’d gone solo on the deal.
Going with the state’s program could have cost about $31,000 and $52,000, she said.
“I feel like we’re really bringing a much needed service not only to Greenfield, but with Deerfield on board we’re covering a bigger area and the surveillance that’s happening can give us some guidance and real data moving forward as to what our mosquitoes are doing,” Zabko said. “We’re divided by town line, but not by public health issues.”