Summer is West Nile season in Northeast Ohio, and counties have been sending samples of mosquitos to the Ohio Department of Health for testing to inform their mosquito control.
Summit County has received the most positive test results of any Northeast Ohio county. As of Aug. 17, 28 samples tested positive for West Nile virus in Summit County, according to ODH.
These numbers are no call for alarm, said Nate King, Summit County's environmental health supervisor.
“We're staying pretty steady over the last five years,” he said. “Plus, what we have so far this year, we don't see really any spikes or any significant changes on how many detections we're getting.”
Other Northeast Ohio counties that have had mosquito pools test positive for WNV include Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Richland, ODH data shows. There have been no human cases of West Nile yet this year.
In Mahoning, none of the mosquito pools sent to the state have tested positive, reported Colton Masters, the director of environmental health. But that does not mean the virus is not present in other mosquitos in the area.
“The West Nile virus is endemic to Ohio. We know it's here,” Masters said. “Just because I didn't catch the mosquitoes that had it in this area doesn't mean that it's not around here every single year.”
Cuyahoga, Mahoning, Medina and Stark counties spray for adult mosquitos on an as-need basis and routinely work to kill the bugs in their larvae stage. This type of treatment prevents the insects from growing into adult mosquitoes.
Spraying for adult mosquitos in Summit County is being prioritized in areas where WNV has been detected, but other areas are also being treated, King said.
“You'll see the fog coming from the back of the truck. Once that has dissipated, there's no danger to people or pets. And it's one of the reasons why we stay just in public roadways,” King said. “It's only going to travel about 150 feet either side of the roadway, depending on the wind.”
People can help reduce the number of mosquitoes in their own neighborhood by preventing standing water in their yards, King said.
“The biggest thing with that is what we call source reduction,” he said, “so anything that can hold standing water. It can be something as simple as cleaning out your gutters.”
Properly maintaining pools, decorative ponds, bird baths or other areas where water is meant to collect is also important, King said.
To protect themselves from being bitten, people should wear long sleeve, light-colored clothing when outside during evening hours.
“Since (mosquito numbers are) so dependent on weather, you could be looking at still having to protect yourself from mosquitoes into November or even beyond,” Masters said. “Just because it's a nice fall day, you still have to make sure you protect yourself and your loved ones from mosquitoes.”
