WEST NILE VIRUS GUIDELINES TO FOLLOW:
1. Avoid outdoor activity when mosquitoes are most active
- from dusk
until dawn. You also need to protect yourself against day-flying
mosquito species.
2. If outdoors, wear protective clothing and apply mosquito
repellents according to label directions - those containing
DEET, Picaridin, or Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus have been proven
to be the most effective.
3. Ensure door and window screens are secured and in good
repair to prevent mosquito entrance into homes.
4. Eliminate standing and stagnant water. Eggs are laid
and immature mosquitoes develop in dirty pools & spas,
ponds, bird baths, buckets, barrels, children's toys, etc.
Immature mosquitoes become biting adults in 5-7 days.
5. Free mosquito-eating fish are available to South County
residents for permanent water sources (ponds, troughs, large
fountains) at the Mosquito and Vector Management District
of Santa Barbara County (MVMDSBC).
6. Horse owners should contact their veterinarian to have
their horses vaccinated for West Nile Virus and to keep
the vaccinations up to date.
7. Contact the MVMDSBC immediately at (805) 969-5050 to
report mosquito problems on green pools/spas.
View the CDC simple measures against the West Nile Virus [PDF]
View the UCSB, EH&S Bulletin on WNV [Word Doc]
West Nile Virus Activities in 2007-SB County
• No confirmed human cases of WNV.
• 1 dead bird - sparrow tested positive for WNV in Lompoc.
West
Nile Virus Activities in 2006 -
SB County
• No
confirmed human cases of WNV.
•1 Mosquito pool (collected near Devereux Lagoon) out of 144 pools (collected on UCSB property) was tested positive for WNV.
• 19 dead birds tested positive for WNV, 10 from Santa Ynez and 5 from the south coast.
• 2 confirmed horse cases in Santa Ynez Valley, 1 of which was fatal and not vaccinated.
SBCVCD Press Releases 2006, and more information on West Nile Virus, see below:
West Nile Virus Activities
in 2005 - SB County
• 21
mosquito pools were tested positive for WNV. 16 out of 21 positive
pools were from the UCSB/SB Airport boundary; 5 others
were from Los Carneros Lake
•
2 human cases
• 6 horses tested positive for WNV and 3 of them died.
• 73 dead birds (Crow, Scrub Jay, House Finch & Sparrow,
and Magpie) which tested positive for WNV.
• The second WNV human case - in the city of Santa Barbara - was announced by County Public Health Services on September 27, 2005. The 56-year old male started experiencing flu like symptoms on August 15. Subsequently, he was hospitalized on September 15, and the test results confirmed positive WNV.
• The
first WNV human case - in Santa Barbara County was reported in
the Santa Barbara News-Press, August 30, 2005. “It
started with a slight fever, fatigue and an upset stomach, but
if the 24-year-old Carpinteria man hadn't’t gone in to give
blood, nobody may ever have known: He is the first person in the
County with a confirmed case of West Nile Virus.”
In his interview with the News-Press, Dr. Elliot Schulman,
health officer and the director of the County’s Public Health
Department, said, “80% of the people who contract it have
no symptoms at all and won’t even know that they’re
infected.”
• Good news; the Tule pond (about 4-5 acres) located on
the Santa Barbara Airport property was treated by aerial mosquito
larvicide application on August 26, 2005. This pond had not previously
been treated with larvicide, since it has not been accessible
to Mosquito and Vector Management District of Santa Barbara County
(MVMDSBC). The EH&S Industrial Hygiene Program has been working
with (MVMDSBC), and the Airport for sometime to provide access
and perform the treatment.
• Mosquito trapping, by the Mosquito and Vector Management
District of Santa Barbara County, and testing, by the California
Department of Health Services, are performed to closely monitor
the outbreak of WNV in SB County and to perform mosquito abatement
in the wetlands.
• A WNV warning bulletin has been developed by EH&S,
and both Facilities Management and Housing and Residential Services
have been posting them on the campus grounds and inside the buildings.
SBCVCD Press Releases 2005:
Resources
CDC Center for Disease Control
Santa Barbara Public Health Department
Mosquito and Vector Management District of Santa Barbara County