Tag Archives: West Nile virus

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Tips For Preventing Mosquito Bites – and West Nile Virus

Because our area is such a breeding ground for West Nile virus, we wanted to provide you with additional information on how to prevent this disease. Here is the best advice from the Centers of Disease Control:

• The best way to avoid mosquito bites is to put insect repellents on exposed skin. The CDC  recommends four ingredients: DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (or PMD), and IR3535 (its latest addition to the list). In addition, permethrin—which can be used on clothing, shoes, camping gear, and bed nets, but not skin—is an option.

• Stay indoors at or near dawn and dusk, when West Nile infections tend to occur. “Try and avoid mosquito bites at these times,” says Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases.

• Eliminate mosquito breeding sites around your home. These include small pools of water such as a birdbath that’s not cleaned out, water at the bottom of a flowerpot, and old buckets or tires with standing water. “Any kind of container can breed mosquitoes,” Petersen says. Emptying such containers once or twice a week should do the trick.

• Put screens on your windows and doors—and repair the screens if they have holes in them. Also, use air conditioning so you can keep the windows closed.

• Use mosquito netting on infant carriers when taking a baby outdoors.

West Nile virus is a serious health threat. Call an experienced NJ, NYC pest control expert to ensure your family’s health and safety.

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It’s West Nile Season

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Mosquito bites can be more than an annoyance. For the unlucky, getting bitten can lead to West Nile virus, a potentially serious illness that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is very likely underdiagnosed and underreported. With West Nile season getting underway, and mosquitoes and birds recently testing positive for the virus from coast to coast, the agency is spreading the word on prevention.

West Nile virus first appeared in the northeastern United States during the summer of 1999, in the New York metropolitan area, and it quickly spread through much of the continental United States. In New Jersey, scientists isolated the virus from humans, birds, horses, gray squirrels, an eastern chipmunk, a striped skunk and bats

In June 2000, the New York State Health Department announced that a pair of crows found in Rockland County, New York, was infected with the virus. That same day, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services reported that a crow found in Bergen County, New Jersey, had also tested positive for the West Nile virus.

West Nile virus continues to be a cause for concern in this area. West Nile is usually spread by infected mosquitoes, which pick up West Nile by feeding on infected birds and can then transmit the illness to people and animals.  While you can help prevent mosquitoes breeding by eliminating standing water around your home, if there’s an infestation of mosquitoes, call in an expert NJ, NYC pest control company.