What Is Ohio Doing to Prevent a West Nile Virus Outbreak?
During the fall of 2000, the Ohio Department of Health, in conjunction with the Ohio Departments of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Natural Resources; The Ohio State University; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and our local partners and other colleagues, organized a working group to address this emerging problem. The goal of the workgroup is to protect people and domestic animals from West Nile and other arboviral diseases. An integrated pest management (IPM) approach to accomplish this goal includes the following: Surveillance identify disease activity in birds and mosquitoes in enough time to warn the public. Source reduction eliminate places for mosquitoes to breed. Larviciding treat standing water sources that cannot be eliminated in order to kill the immature mosquito. Adulticiding spray for adult mosquitoes when deemed necessary.
