this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2024
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I've never been clear on what exactly the mitigation is for WNV. It's not like you can prevent mosquitoes biting you. Often you don't even know it's happening. What exactly are you supposed to do?
The article says "don't get bit" but thats basically impossible if you enjoy the outdoors, especially in more wooded areas like northern Ontario. You can't just wear a full body bug net the whole time. I mean I guess you could but it'd be miserable.
There's not much you can do personally other than avoiding mosquito-prone areas and wearing proper clothing.
Municipalities and other governing bodies can implement mosquito control programs though if residents feel they would benefit from reducing the mosquito populations. WNv isn't a huge threat in Canada yet, it's much more prevalent in the United states, so most mosquito programs up here are to control them for nuisance for more enjoyable summers, tourism and business, outdoor labourers and farmworkers, etc.
I work in mosquito control and it's a pretty safe product that's used, no aerial spraying of chemicals in our area it's just targeting the larval stage of mosquitos by applying a bacteria which kills pretty much only mosquitos or black flies. Leaves everything else untouched.
Places like roadside catch basins can produce a lot of the mosquitos that transmit WNv, just sampled a townhome complex the other week and found that pretty much every one of their 30 catch basins were producing over 1000 mosquitos, likely on a weekly basis for months.
If you feel a mosquito control program is needed residents need to contact their municipal or regional representatives to get the process started. You may already have one going as well, where you may be able to get any stagnant water on your property treated for free (depending on the program). A lot of people don't even know their city has a mosquito control program, even ones which have been going for 20+ years.
I got the brain inflammation outcome 20 years ago. Brutal. Would not recommend.
In the past, it's been to just prioritize not getting bitten, so use bug spray and consider how you're dressed. If you are going to sleep outdoors maybe consider how well your sleeping situation is going to protect you.
Also, big one is to think about if you're creating good mosquito breeding conditions on your property. If so, change that.
I know years ago, there was interest in reporting/cleaning up suspiciously dead birds too. Not sure what the current direction on that is now.
What exactly makes a dead bird sus?
Corvids like Crows, ravens, and magpies/jays are very susceptible to West Nile virus and are often indicators that the virus may be spreading in an area. If you find a dead Corvid you should report it so that the corpse can be tested to see if it died due to the virus.
Report it to whom?
Depends where you live. In BC you would probably report it to the BCCDC.
It depends on what you do with it.