State Agriculture officials are planning a second round of aerial spraying Tuesday night in Whiting to combat mosquitos - some of which may be carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus - both rare but potentially fatal mosquito-born illnesses.
Two men died from Triple E in Vermont last summer and state officials say mosquitos carrying the virus have been detected in Whiting and nearby Sudbury this summer.
West Nile Virus has been found in Whiting and Brandon.
Vermont State Entomologist Alan Graham said the state oversaw aerial spraying of a two-mile square section of Whiting last Thursday and will spray the area again Tuesday at dusk, weather permitting.
“I’m hoping to have numbers for efficacy for the spraying by Friday of this week. As you might imagine it’s a tremendous amount of work because we’re looking at increase trapping and I’ve set up additional traps both inside and outside the spray zone. And so we’ll be analyzing those numbers in both those traps," Graham said.
The pesticides used are designed to kill flying mosquitos on contact but according the state health department break down quickly the next day in sunlight. Anyone in the spray area in Whiting should stay inside and close their windows during the evening.
Alan Graham said the spraying is important in controlling the mosquito that carries Triple EEE - known as Culiseta Melanura.
“I think we may possibly be also at risk next year because I’m seeing high numbers of Culiseta Melanura this year and until those numbers go down - and if we can break the bird mosquito virus transmission cycle - that may also reduce the amount of virus that’s perhaps winters over - we don’t know where it goes after October," Graham explained.
But Graham said if we can break that transmission cycle with aerial spraying, the state will likely be much better off next year.
