DEM's WNV/EEE Page
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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade St., Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
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For Release: |
October 10, 2001 |
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Contact: |
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418; pager 482-2968
Kenneth Ayars 222-2781 ext. 4500
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2001 West Nile/EEE Status Update
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
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Mosquitoes: Test results from 23 mosquito pools from 21 traps set statewide on September 24 are negative for both West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis. (One other pool, from Westerly has already been reported as positive for EEE.)
Birds: Sixty new birds, primarily crows, from 20 communities, collected between September 21 and October 5, have tested positive for West Nile Virus. They include 11 from North Kingstown, 10 from South Kingstown, seven from Tiverton, six from Charlestown, four from Bristol, three each from Portsmouth and Little Compton, and two each from Coventry, Westerly and East Greenwich. Also, one each from Narragansett, Cranston, Hopkinton, Warren, Lincoln, Providence, North Smithfield, Smithfield, Cumberland and Exeter. The number is not unexpected, and the exponential increase is similar to the state's experience last year at this late stage of the mosquito season.
West Nile Virus builds up in both mosquito and bird populations as those populations exchange the disease back and forth between themselves: diseased birds infecting mosquitoes, diseased mosquitoes infecting yet more birds. All this takes time. The diseased birds reported today would have been infected by biting mosquitoes several weeks ago.
DEM expects that birds infected with West Nile Virus will continue to be found for the next few weeks. However, because of the cooler nights and shorter days, new mosquito production has essentially stopped. Only six small pools of mosquitoes, for instance, were collected from the nine traps that were set out statewide last week as part of the state's weekly mosquito trapping and testing program. (Test results from those mosquito pools are pending.)
However, there will be some mosquito activity, particularly during periods of warmer daytime temperatures, until the first hard frost. Since mosquito-borne disease has been found throughout the region, Rhode Islanders should continue to take personal protection steps to avoid mosquito bites, such as covering up and wearing mosquito repellent when mosquitoes are active, such as when hiking in the woods in warmer weather. Personal protection is still the first line of defense against mosquitoes that can carry diseases such as West Nile Virus and EEE, and is by far the most effective way of avoiding infection.
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Routine weekly testing for West Nile Virus and EEE statewide will continue as weather permits.
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To date, 14 mosquito pools from nine communities have tested positive or suspect positive for West Nile Virus and five mosquito pools from one community have tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Two hundred and eight birds have also tested positive for West Nile Virus. |
For information on protection measures, call DEM's recorded Mosquito Information Line at 222-2793 or HEALTH's Family Health Information Line at 1-800-942-7434, or visit www.healthri.org and/or www.dem.ri.gov on line.
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