YOUNGSTOWN Officials: Regional effort would combat mosquitoes

West Nile has been found in the region this year.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- As floodwaters recede and leave behind pools of stagnant water, local public health officials are calling for an intensified regional approach to mosquito control.
"The mosquitoes in Coitsville aren't going to stop at the city line, and not come over to our side of the street," said George A. Finnerty III, Youngstown's mosquito control coordinator.
"This is an extraordinary year. There's so much water out there. I'm getting called to neighborhoods I've never gone to before," said Finnerty, who has handled mosquito control in the city since 1976.
Finnerty's duties include trapping mosquitoes for an Ohio Department of Health lab that tests them for West Nile virus, dropping larvicide briquets into catch basins and pools of standing water, and spraying insecticide from a pickup truck to kill adult mosquitoes. Finnerty says the sprays and larvicides he uses have no undesirable side effects.
The Youngstown area probably should have a multicommunity mosquito control district like the one in the Toledo area, Finnerty added.
Regional approach
Neil Altman, city health commissioner, and Walter Duzzny, director of Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency, agree that a regional approach is needed.
With limited exceptions, "The rest of the county hasn't been spraying, and they haven't been larviciding, and they've needed a program all along," Altman said.
One exception is Craig Beach, where village council this month increased spraying by a private contractor from once a month to once a week to cope with the peak mosquito and West Nile season.
In Lowellville, Mayor Joseph Rossi said Wednesday he'd ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for help with mosquito control in pools of stagnant water left behind along the Mahoning River as floodwaters receded. If it can't or won't help, he said, village funds will be spent for mosquito control there.
Altman said he'd consider entering into a contract to spray in surrounding communities if Finnerty is available to do the work.
Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties have been declared federal flood disaster areas. "There should be no county lines when it comes to these issues," of public health and safety, Duzzny said.
West Nile
West Nile has already been found in the region this year. A 75-year-old man in Lawrence County tested positive for the disease at the end of July, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Finnerty trapped positive mosquitoes July 1 and 13 on Youngstown's West Side. Two positive birds have also been found in Youngstown. Elsewhere in Mahoning County, two positive birds were found in the village of Poland and one in Austintown, and there have been two groups of positive mosquitoes.
"Every area has to do its part. A mosquito can travel 15 miles," observed Bob Pinti, Warren's deputy health commissioner.
There, the city puts larvicide in all catch basins and reported pools of standing water to reduce mosquito breeding, and sprays to kill adult mosquitoes, he said. "Right now, we're approaching the peak season," he noted.
Great breeding conditions
If the current dry spell continues, mosquitoes will enjoy ideal, undisturbed breeding conditions in whatever standing water remains, Pinti observed.
Even after the standing water dries up, mosquito eggs can lie on a dry lawn and hatch up to four years later when heavy rains and floodwaters return, Finnerty said. In hot weather, the transition from eggs to adult mosquitoes takes a mere seven days, he added.
"In Trumbull County, we are taking this seriously," said Frank Migliozzi, environmental health director for the Trumbull County Health Department, which has recently intensified its mosquito control efforts.
"We want to do everything we can within our means to combat this," he said. His department traps mosquitoes and collects dead birds for West Nile testing and puts larvicide in pools of standing water.
Many Trumbull County communities have contracts for mosquito spraying with Alexander's Pest Control of New Springfield: Howland, Bazetta, Cortland, Braceville, Newton Falls, Newton Township, Champion, Warren Township, Weathersfield, Vienna, Liberty, Lordstown, Hubbard and Farmington. The company also places larvicide for Cortland, Niles and Newton Falls, while Girard places its own larvicide.
Funding
A regional mosquito control program would be "a nice thing to have," said Dan Hutton, a sanitarian for the Columbiana County Health Department. However, he said, funding hasn't been made available.
Hutton said his department doesn't have funding for larvicide placement or spraying, so it focuses on public education concerning West Nile virus and mosquito control, including the need to eliminate standing water.
Rick Setty, director of environmental health for the Mahoning County Health Department, urges property owners to drain standing water or to buy and drop larvicide into any stagnant water pools they can't eliminate.
Pinti concluded: "People need to become more active in policing their own areas -- their homes."