Guest Column: Mosquito control keeps residents safe from disease

By JEANNE MOELLER
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 08/16/09

Historically speaking St. Johns County residents have battled and lost with many mosquito-borne diseases.

Yellow fever plagued this area up until the early 1900s. All one has to do is visit Evergreen Cemetery in St. Augustine to realize the impact yellow fever had on the citizens of this county. In fact the discovery of yellow fever transmission by the mosquito was so monumental in American history that it has been linked with the creation of American modern medicine.

Malaria was also common place in St. Johns County up until the late 1940s when Anastasia Island residents created the Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD) which now covers the entire county.

Today still 1.5 million people die a year due infection with malaria. New mosquito-borne diseases are making their way across the world to our borders every year. Dengue fever which results in 19,000 deaths a year has been considered an epidemic in Mexico and the Caribbean since 2007. With the emergence of West Nile (WNV) virus in Florida in 2001, the public is again aware of concerns associated with mosquito-borne diseases.

In order to protect the resident of the county, AMCD conducts mosquito-borne disease surveillance. AMCD uses sentinel chickens and mosquito pooling to monitor for mosquito-borne diseases: West Nile virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus, Saint Louis encephalitis (SL) virus, and Highlands J (HJ) virus. Surveillance provides an early detection system of mosquito-borne arboviruses in the county and the justification for vector mosquito control, such as conducting pesticide ULV (ultra low volume), spraying by ground and air.

Whitney Qualls, AMCD's biologist reports: "In 2003 there was a West Nile human fatality reported. There have been no other human cases of any mosquito-borne disease since 2003 in the county. We have had horse mortalities with a total of 22 horses testing positive for either EEE or WNV. There have been a total of 302 sentinel chickens that have tested positive for mosquito-borne viruses in St. Johns County from 2001 to date, of which 177 were WNV, 105 were EEE, and 19 were HJ. Our sentinel chicken results from year to year indicate that mosquito-borne viruses are present and a common occurrence in our county. Efforts are made when our sentinel chickens test positive to control the problem mosquitoes before we ever see a human case.''

AMCD is here to protect the public from nuisance mosquitoes but more importantly mosquito-borne diseases. Our control efforts are done with justification provided under the mosquito control law (Chapter 388-mosquito control law and the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Service's (DACS) Administration Code 5E-13). Pesticide application for mosquito control is the last choice for AMCD after other non-pesticide methods; source reduction, personal protection through public education, and biocontrol has failed.

We have in this county the mosquito vectors for all of the mentioned mosquito-borne diseases, the perfect climate, and an influx of travelers from different countries that have been exposed to exotic mosquito-borne diseases.

Without efficient and effective mosquito control we put not only the residents but the tourist industry of this county in grave danger.

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Jeanne Moeller is a commissioner of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District who was elected in 2006 to a four-year term.

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