Mosquito carrying West Nile virus found in Madison County, Illinois

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (KMOV) – News 4 is warning residents in the metro area of ​​a health alert. The Madison County Health Department is conducting random mosquito population checks in different parts of the county and found one mosquito that tested positive for the presence of West Nile virus.

The mosquito with the positive results was tested in the Wilson Park area of ​​Granite City. City administrators are now encouraging residents of the community to take precautions.

To avoid mosquito bites, you can try the four Ds:

DEET: Use an insect repellent that contains DEET as the active ingredient.

DRESS: Wear long, loose clothing and lighter colored clothing when outdoors.

DRAIN: It is important to drain areas in or around your home where there is standing water, as this is a place where mosquitoes could lay their eggs.

FROM DAWN TO DUSK: These are the times when mosquitoes are most active, so you should limit your time outdoors to dawn and dusk.

John and Cheryl Birdsong have lived across from Wilson Park in Granite City for 25 years.

“Getting bitten by mosquitoes is bad enough, but when you hear about West Nile in this conversation, it’s not pleasant,” says John. “I have diabetes. She has health problems. There are obviously concerns.

In a letter to the community, the mayor of Granite City says the most effective remedy to stop this spread is to kill the larvae in standing water, rather than spraying an insecticide. He says spraying the insecticide only kills the mosquitoes it comes into contact with. He says “the sprayer is the most expensive method with results that are not considered the cost”.

“I think the sprayer would still kill adults and fly-biters by biting people,” Cheryl says.

“Cost really shouldn’t come into the equation in my opinion,” says John.

The CDC says about one in five people infected with West Nile virus will develop a fever, along with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, and vomiting.

The Birdsongs say that when it rains, parts of the park fill with standing water.

Jay Everitt of Rottler Pest Solutions says people should get rid of any standing water near their homes, including changing the water in pet bowls and birdbaths regularly.

“If you do this every three to five days, you’ll stay ahead of the game,” says Everitt. “They can’t survive without this water, but it usually takes between five and 10 days to go from egg to adult.”

The Birdsongs say they try to limit their time outdoors.

“We don’t really go out much after about 7 a.m. and we don’t go out until later in the morning,” says John.

Cheryl and John say their grandchildren are already having serious reactions to insect bites and the positive mosquito test raises even more concerns.

“We are going to protect them as much as possible as grandparents,” says John. “Obviously the kids want to go out, they want to play, they want to run, but once it gets around evening, not so much.”

News 4 has contacted other Metro and Metro East health departments.

The St. Clair County Health Department says it routinely tests for mosquitoes during the summer months and had two positive test results in June. The health department told News 4 that it provides local municipalities with larvicide to treat standing water.

In Missouri, St. Charles says it has had no positive cases of West Nile virus, but sent more information about testing done in the county:

Staff from the Health and Environmental Protection Division of the St. Charles County Public Health Department are working hard to control mosquitoes. Homeowners are encouraged to join in the effort to eliminate pests before they become a nuisance and potentially spread disease.

“Mosquito control is a year-round effort, but during the warmer months when they are most active, we increase our work to proactively deal with mosquitoes and respond to requests and concerns,” said Ryan Tilley, Division Director of Health and Environmental Protection. .

Homeowners also play an important role in reducing mosquitoes in their community, Tilley says. Because mosquitoes mostly stay within a few miles of their breeding site, denying them access to the standing water they use to breed can make a big difference in the immediate area, Tilley says.

“Routine cleaning of your home’s gutters is the first thing residents can do to help, as well as dealing with any other standing water,” Tilley notes. “Unused swimming pools, birdbaths and watering holes without running water can all become mosquito habitats if not cleaned regularly.”

In 2022, county staff traveled 239 miles spraying adult mosquitoes with pesticides, in addition to spending 103 hours treating mosquito breeding habitats with larvicides. Tilley says the most effective way to reduce mosquito numbers is to remove or treat pools of standing water where they breed.

“Targeting developing larvae in water has the greatest impact and is more environmentally friendly than spraying,” says Tilley. “When choosing where to apply larvicide, we look for standing water in publicly accessible areas, such as drainage ditches or retention ponds, especially in areas that have a history of high activity.”

When adult mosquitoes become a major nuisance or public health threat in an area, Division personnel use truck-mounted pesticide sprayers to reduce the population in that area. St. Charles County Mosquito Control Services are provided in the unincorporated county of St. Charles and contracted for Augusta, Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Flint Hill, Lake Saint Louis, Portage des Sioux, St. Paul, Weldon Spring, Weldon Spring Heights and Wentzville. Residents of these areas can go online to sccmo.org/mosquito and click on the “Notify Staff of Mosquito Problems” link to request services.

The towns of O’Fallon, St. Charles and St. Peters operate their own mosquito control programs. Residents of these cities should contact their respective town halls for processing issues.

You can find more information from the CDC here.

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