KC is at risk for an abundance of Zika-carrying mosquitoes this summer
Here are five words that Kansas Citians should keep in mind this summer when it comes to staying safe from the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
Get rid of standing water.
A new study published in the scientific journal PLOS Currents: Outbreaks identifies 50 U.S. cities likely to host Zika-carrying mosquitoes this summer. Nine cities are at greater risk than others. Kansas City is one of them.
The other eight at-risk cities are Charleston, Jacksonville, Miami, Mobile, New Orleans, Orlando, Savannah, Tallahassee and Tampa.
No need to panic, however.
This doesn’t mean that the United States will see a sudden explosion of Zika cases. So far, 258 people have shown up in U.S. hospitals with the virus.
None of those people got the virus — which is also known to be can sexually transmitted — from a bug bite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The journal’s findings were based partly on U.S. climate data from the last decade. It’s not clear yet how far north the mosquitoes that spread the virus will move — warmer, wetter weather creates ideal living situations for it.
While the virus might be new to the United States, the two mosquito species known to carry it are not.
Aedes aegypti, the mosquito which caused the Zika outbreak linked to birth defects in Brazil, is found in the southern United States, from Florida to California. The Asian tiger mosquito, which is found in more northern cities including Chicago and New York, is another known carrier.
These species are among the most difficult species to fight because they live and breed wherever water collects, both inside and outside of houses. And that doesn’t necessarily mean roadside ditches and swamps.
They will take up residence in tub drains, dog bowls, children’s toys, crumpled tarps, clogged gutters, old tires, buckets and flower pots, which means homeowners must be fastidious about standing water.
Mosquitoes can lay eggs in containers as small as a soda cap.
“You’re going to find them in dog food bowls or in 5-gallon buckets. It almost requires going door to door to dump out containers,” said Mark Cothran, mosquito control director for Gulf County, Fla.
Even though so many yards provide perfect mosquito breeding grounds, it can be difficult to get homeowners to take care of their properties, said Harry Savage, the CDC’s chief entomologist.
“Source reduction by individuals usually doesn’t work because people are too lazy to clean up their own yards,” Savage said.
Many cities and counties are already taking steps to get ready for mosquito breeding seasons:
▪ In the Florida Panhandle, automotive suppliers are being urged to get rid of old tires that can become mosquito incubators when they’re full of water.
▪ In Savannah, Ga., mosquito control personnel are hunting down breeding sites and eliminating standing water in neighborhoods and subdivisions where cases of Zika have been reported. The Georgia Department of Environmental Health has adopted a motto for how the public can get rid of standing water: Tip and toss.
▪ In New York, 100,000 larvicide tablets that kill mosquitoes in standing water are being distributed and a public awareness campaign about the virus and mosquitoes is underway.
This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 4:08 PM with the headline "KC is at risk for an abundance of Zika-carrying mosquitoes this summer."