Spray trucks target mosquito booms

Chatham County Mosquito Control used its spray truck earlier this week to target parts of Parkside, Ardsley Park and a few southside neighborhoods where there was a spike in the number of Southern house mosquitoes, the species most likely to carry West Nile virus.

One of the traps that lures in female mosquitoes after they've had a blood meal and are ready to lay eggs captured 916 of them in one night, more than three times the threshold for taking action, said Mosquito Control Director Ture Carlson.

"That's what triggered the ground spray," he said.

Mosquito Control relies on ground spraying to target small areas if the mosquitoes aren't widespread enough to merit helicopter spraying a larger area. They spray before dawn to protect bees, which typically don't leave their hives until after sunrise.

Parkside residents posted on Facebook Friday morning that they'd had no notice of the pre-dawn spraying that woke some up as the truck rattled through lanes. Some complained of physical symptoms such as asthma they attributed to the spray. The truck sprayed a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide called Scourge that targets adult mosquitoes' nervous system. It's been in use for about 30 years, Carlson said. 

Carlson said he's looking into the current notification system, called SwiftReach, to see if it can be modified to include notifications of truck spraying. It's already used to provide notification of aerial spraying, which won't begin until testing reveals that area mosquitoes are carrying. Residents can opt-in to SwiftReach online at mosquitocontrol.chathamcounty.org/Spraying-Notifications for notifications by phone, email and/or text messaging.

The last two years have seen high amounts of the West Nile virus circulating in mosquitoes in Chatham County, though there have been no human cases. No mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile virus yet this year in Chatham. The county also monitors for Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus in mosquitoes.

Residents can help reduce localized mosquito population booms by tipping over containers of standing water in their yards and lanes, Carlson said. When Mosquito Control investigates complaints, they find the need to "tip 'n' toss," Carlson said.

"Typically we find if they're not breeding in their own house, usually it's nearby," he said.

Mosquito control notification

• To receive notifications when mosquito control will spray, opt-in to SwiftReach online at mosquitocontrol.chathamcounty.org/Spraying-Notifications

• Notifications can be received by phone, email and/or text messaging.