TRUMBULL COUNTY Mosquito traps to aid in battling West Nile

The health department also will track dead birds.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Health Department was to begin laying traps today to track where mosquitoes carrying the deadly West Nile virus live and breed.
The four basinlike traps will be emptied daily, and the mosquitoes counted, frozen and shipped to Columbus for testing, said Frank Migliozzi, the department's director of environmental health. The traps will be moved many times over the course of the summer.
"What we want to do this year is to map our area and see where the risk areas are," Migliozzi said.
As the summertime resurgence of mosquitoes begins, officials expect to also see a resurgence of mosquito-borne West Nile disease.
Most people who are infected with the virus never develop any symptoms, say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. But one in about 150 people who catch the virus suffer from severe infection, which can include an inflammation of the brain or the membrane surrounding it.
31 deaths in Ohio
Ohio had the third-highest number of West Nile cases in 2002, with 441 infections and 31 deaths from the disease, the CDC says. The disease arrived on this continent in 1999, in New York, and has been traveling west with birds and horses, which can become infected and spread the virus back to mosquitoes.
Migliozzi said that two Trumbull County residents tested positive for the disease last year but that it is impossible to track down exactly where they caught it.
With the mosquito traps, the health department hopes to identify what areas they need to concentrate efforts to put down the pests. Traps initially will be placed to capture mosquitoes in the county's more urban parts, where the likelihood of a human bite is greatest.
Residents' responsibility
The health department also will use the traps to demonstrate when a property owner has allowed mosquitoes to become a nuisance. Residents can reduce mosquitoes by eliminating places where water can collect, Migliozzi said.
By the end of the month, health department officials plan to begin dispensing anti-mosquito larvae pellets in local ponds, ditches and water holes.
The department also will be mapping bird deaths, which can also indicate the spread of West Nile. Residents are encouraged to bring dead birds to the health department. Carcasses of crows and blue jays -- species considered especially susceptible to the disease -- that are collected within 48 hours of death will be shipped to Columbus for West Nile testing.
siff@vindy.com