Vector Control Keeps Options Open for Mosquito Aerial Spraying

Now that the agency that battles mosquito infestation has rejected a plan to give its staff the power to order aerial spraying should the need arise, two other proposals for regulating how pest control will be authorized are being weighed, a spokesman said today.

The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District board, which has 35 members, voted against a plan that would have given its districts manager the authority to order aerial spraying if there's an emergency situation with infestation. Multiple residents spoke out against the plan and aerial spraying in general at the board's Thursday night meeting.

Last year, when the district had planned to do aerial spraying in Santa Ana, it met with resistance from some residents. The plan was abandoned last September when a contractor failed to obtain the proper permits.

"The board does not wish to have our district manager have that exclusive right, but it does not mean it precludes (spraying) in the future if necessary," said Jared Dever, a spokesman for the agency.

Two alternative proposals emerged in discussions Thursday night, Dever said.

Under one proposal, the board would convene an emergency meeting and put aerial spraying to a full vote of the board, and it would pass only with a two-thirds majority, Dever said.

The other proposal would involve the establishment of a trustee advisory council that would work with the district's staff, and they would collaboratively decide whether to do aerial spraying of insecticides, Dever said.

It was not immediately clear when the board would return to those alternatives for discussion. It is early in the mosquito season, so there have not been any signs of infestation issues this year, Dever said.

Vector-control officials in Los Angeles County, however, found a batch of mosquitoes in Sun Valley that tested positive for the West Nile virus within the past week.

Even more troubling for Orange County, last fall the area began seeing the Asian Tiger and Aegypti Yellow Fever mosquitoes, which are particularly aggressive and invasive and can breed in "tiny amounts of water," Dever said. For those mosquitoes, aerial spraying is "very inefficient," because they can breed indoors, Dever added.

With the new species of mosquitoes, it's more effective to have residents call in sightings of the pests so vector control officials can send in a "strike team" to take care of the problem and then check for more mosquitoes in a radius in denser suburbs that could include 450 homes, Dever said.

Both or either one of the Asian Tiger and Yellow Fever mosquitoes have been spotted in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Huntington beach, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Orange and Santa Ana, Dever said.

Aerial spraying is highly effective against mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus, Dever said.

City News Service