"A dead bird doesn't trigger a spraying response this year"

<x-flowed>The following article from Friday's New York Times conveys a
significant change in the "guidance" provided to local health units
from Federal CDC. While the emphasis on prevention measures is not
new, the more restrained use of mosquito adulticides is. Last year
CDC recommended use of mosquito adulticides (pesticides used to kill
adult mosquitoes) within a 2-mile radius of any detection of WNV --
which was typically detected in birds. It has since been recognized
that WNV in birds does not necessarily signify a threat to people.
These pesticides are now recommended only for situations where WNV is
a suspected or detected threat to people. - LCL

The New York Times
May 4, 2001

City to Look Beyond Spraying for West Nile

By DIANE CARDWELL

To reduce the reliance on pesticides in the battle against West Nile
virus, the city will use a more conservative, concentrated approach
to spraying this summer, officials said yesterday.

Last year, the city generally sprayed pesticides within a two-
mile radius of any location where infection was found in birds or
mosquitoes. This year, officials said, the city plans to emphasize
monitoring, public education and prevention. For example, it will
enforce a ban on standing water and use larvicide to reduce
mosquito populations.

"We'll do everything that we can to try to determine if the
disease has come back," Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday at
a news conference. "Where necessary, we'll spray if it turns out
that we see evidence that the disease has returned."

Officials stopped short of saying that there would be less
spraying this year than last. Dr. Neal L. Cohen, the city's health
commissioner, said they could not predict how prevalent the virus
would be.

"We do know that all these preventive measures make a very
important difference," he said, "and we really have to not look to
spraying as a panacea, but look to prevention as the way to
minimize the need to spray."

Instead of spraying widely wherever the virus is detected, Dr.
Cohen said, team will investigate communities where dead birds or
infected mosquitoes are found to determine whether spraying is
necessary.

The team will first try to reduce standing water, which is a
breeding ground for mosquitoes. If pesticides are necessary, he
said, the spraying will focus on green areas like parks and golf
courses, where mosquitoes are likely to breed, and then in a
one-mile radius.

"A dead bird doesn't trigger a spraying response this year," Dr.
Cohen said. "A dead bird signals to us that we need to focus our
concerns on the community or the area around which the dead bird
has been sighted."

City officials said the response would be more aggressive in areas
like Staten Island, where there were a disproportionate number of
animal and human cases last year. Fourteen people in the city
became seriously ill from the disease last year, and one died. The
previous year, seven people died and 55 others in the New York area
became seriously ill. The disease afflicts mainly elderly people
and those with weakened immune systems.

Dr. Cohen also said that this year the city would vigorously
enforce a measure enacted last year that classifies standing water
as a public health nuisance, subject to fines of $200 to $2,000. He
said that the department had already issued a violation for
standing water on a construction site.

The city has not yet chosen who will conduct the spraying, Dr.
Cohen said, but officials have not ruled out using Clarke Mosquito
Control Products, the Illinois company that sprayed last year.
Several of its workers filed a complaint against the company with
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration contending that
improper training and prolonged exposure to the chemicals used in
the spray, sumithrin and piperonyl butoxide, made them sick.

Copyright 2001
The New York Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lois Levitan, PhD Program Leader
Environmental Risk Analysis Program
Center for the Environment
213 Rice Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York USA 14853

Phone: (607) 255-4765 Fax: (607) 255-0238
Email: LCL3@cornell.edu

Program Email: envrisk@cornell.edu
Web:http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/risk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Received on Mon May 07 09:08:01 2001