Mosquitos At 3 Tredyffrin Parks Tested Positive For West Nile Virus

TREDYFFRIN, PA — Mosquitos at three parks in Tredyffrin recently tested positive for West Nile Virus.

The mosquitos were collected Aug. 13 from traps at Strafford, Cedar Hollow, and Wilson Farm parks.

Mosquitos collected at Walnut Lane Park that day didn't have the virus. Here's the sample report.

The Chester County Health Department (CCHD) conducts mosquito surveillance from May to October, testing the bugs to help determine the risk of West Nile Virus. Humans are most likely to catch the virus by getting bitten by an infected mosquito.

"CCHD will continue to monitor mosquito populations in Tredyffrin throughout the remainder of the season and communicate our findings should additional positive samples be detected," a township advisory says. "The CCHD team will work to identify mosquito larval habitat at or nearby these sites where treatments can be performed with BTI-based larval control products."

West Nile Virus symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea and rash. Severe illness can impact the central nervous and cause hospitalization or death.

No human cases have been reported in Eastern Pennsylvania so far this year, according to CDC data.

But residents are encouraged to take preventative measures, including:

• dumping standing water from buckets, toys and containers
• keeping gutters clean and debris-free
• when possible, staying indoors at dawn and dusk, when mosquitos are busiest
• wearing long sleeves, pants and socks
• using EPA-approved repellents, with ingredients such as DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or PMD