NEWS RELEASE
July 31, 2006

For immediate release:

The St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement District received results from the LSU Veterinary School Diagnostic Laboratory on 51 mosquito pools, with 11 returning positive for West Nile virus. These pools were collected on July 19 and 24. The positive pools came from nine locations within Covington, Madisonville, Lacombe, and Slidell. All of the positive mosquito pools were from the southern house mosquito. In addition, 14 out of 47 chicken blood samples returned positive for West Nile virus. The positives were collected from Covington, East and Central Slidell, Mandeville, Lacombe, Pearl River and Bush. The results from the mosquito pools and chicken blood samples indicate that the virus is present throughout the Parish, and is at higher than usual levels.

Overall, mosquito populations are relatively low, as evident by mosquito light trap counts and larval counts. Last week all areas of the Parish were sprayed by either aerial or ground treatments. Some areas received treatment by both. A total of 82,000 acres were aerially treated, while ground spraying treated another 48,000 acres. In addition, 168 miles of roadside ditches were treated for the control of the southern house mosquito. This week the District will continue to aggressively treat all areas of the Parish.

Residents are once again advised to check their yards for containers such as old tires, cans, buckets, bowls, etc. that are holding water. These containers should be discarded or stored, so that they will not collect water to breed mosquitoes. Such containers breed the Asian tiger mosquito, which is a mosquito species capable of transmitting West Nile virus. Residents should also take precautions when going outdoors in mosquito prone areas during mosquito periods by wearing long sleeve shirts and long pants and using mosquito repellents with DEETŪ or other proven repellents.

For questions, please call Chuck Palmisano at 643-5050.

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