New York State To Give Out Mosquito Trapping Kits To Prevent Zika
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Local and state authorities said Friday that there is a way to prevent mosquitoes, and possibly the Zika virus, from spreading.
The New York State and Suffolk County health departments have declared Saturday, May 14 Mosquito Control Day.
Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken displayed a water bottle as he explained how easily mosquitoes can spread.
"Just to give you an idea, this cap up in a water bottle is all that's needed, if there's water in it, for mosquitoes to proliferate," Tomarken said. "That's all it takes."
As WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported, the documented cases of Zika so far in New York are the result of people getting bitten by mosquitoes in other countries. But authorities emphasized that you never know, and so to help control the population, the state will provide four free mosquito trapping kits.
"So if you have standing water that you can't remove or eliminate or modify, and you need to apply larvicide, the state Health Department is providing free two packs of larvicide to put into that standing water. It's a bacterial agent that the mosquito larvae eat and then they no longer proceed onto adulthood," said Brad Hutton of the state Health Department. "So it's a way for us to control the mosquito population before they ever emerge."
Hutton said the mosquito trapping kits are not dangerous and they are easy to use.
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Tomarken noted that mosquitoes can also carry other diseases.
"Mosquitoes, as we do every summer – we'll probably start at the end of this month depending on the weather – and we will be examining these mosquitoes for Zika, West Nile Virus, and triple E – eastern equine encephalitis," he said.
Zika can be transmitted from person to person by sexual contact, and from people to mosquitoes who then bring it to other humans.