State officials come to Trumbull County to announce Zika mosquito-control effort

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

No one has ever contracted the Zika virus in Ohio by getting bitten by a mosquito.

In all 14 cases in which Ohioans have gotten the disease, it occurred because the person was bitten by a mosquito in Zika-affected areas, such as the tropics and Southern United States, said Dr. Mary DiOrio, medical director for the Ohio Department of Health. The mosquito responsible is the yellow-fever mosquito.

But Ohio does have Asian Tiger mosquitoes, and it is not known whether the Asian Tiger could eventually transmit Zika, Dr. DiOrio told an audience Thursday in the Trumbull County commissioners meeting room.

Furthermore, there is a fear that someone who contracts the Zika virus outside of Ohio might return to the Buckeye State and transmit the disease to Ohio mosquitoes, she said.

There’s also the risk that someone acquiring the disease elsewhere could spread it to Ohioans. Among the ways are sexual contact from a man to a woman, from a mother to her baby during pregnancy or at delivery or from a blood transfusion with infected products.

For all of these reasons, the Ohio EPA has awarded money to 18 counties – including Trumbull and Columbiana – so they can catch and test mosquitoes, kill them and educate the public about them.

A coalition led by the Trumbull County Board of Health and joined by Champion, Bazetta and Howland townships and the cities of Warren, Newton Falls and Cortland will share funding of $44,800 to take these extra steps to head off the potential for people to get infected with Zika.

Through these steps, officials also will make the community safer from other mosquito-borne diseases, said Craig Butler, OEPA director. They include West Nile Virus and LaCrosse Encephalitis.

Ongoing tire-cleanup programs are helpful in reducing mosquito-borne diseases, Butler said, because tires are a source of standing water that helps breed the insects.

“Even though we don’t have it here, we want to act now to reduce the chance of Zika virus ever coming to Ohio,” said Frank Migliozzi, Trumbull County health commissioner.

All of the communities and the county health department will use chemicals to kill adult mosquitoes, but Warren and the county also will kill larvae through use of “dunks” of larvicide placed in water to kill the insects at the larval stage.

The county and Warren also will conduct mosquito surveillance, which involves setting traps to catch mosquitoes that can be analyzed to determine whether they are carrying anything harmful.