Susann Moeller has spent more than 10 years cultivating her backyard into a wildlife sanctuary. The birds and the bees - plus the butterflies, turtles, toads, squirrels and chipmunks - have flocked there. Now, Moeller is concerned that protection efforts against the West Nile virus could compromise her Clintonville sanctuary.
Susann Moeller has spent more than 10 years cultivating her backyard into a wildlife sanctuary. The birds and the bees — plus the butterflies, turtles, toads, squirrels and chipmunks — have flocked there.
Now, Moeller is concerned that protection efforts against the West Nile virus could compromise her Clintonville sanctuary.
The number of U.S. West Nile virus infections has jumped more than 60?percent in the past week, putting this year’s outbreak on track to be the worst on record. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that 1,118 cases and 41 deaths have been reported so far this year, up from fewer than 700 cases and 26 deaths just one week ago.
As of yesterday afternoon, the Ohio Department of Health reported 28 human cases of West Nile virus in the state, including two in Columbus.
Because of the uptick, Columbus city officials decided that public safety trumps individual residents’ desires to protect their gardens or honeybees.
That means the more than 300 people who are on a “no spray” list to avoid having mosquito spray around their homes no longer will have immunity.
Some residents, especially those who keep bees or have organic gardens, are concerned it won’t just be mosquitoes who are hit with the poison.
“I don’t feel threatened by the spray; of course not,” Moeller said. “But we are a huge organism compared to a tiny bee.”
The city doesn’t spray every neighborhood, Columbus Public Health spokesman Jose Rodriguez said. Instead, it targets where more mosquitoes and infected mosquitoes have been counted.
The department’s website has a map showing what areas are being sprayed. And none of the 300 on the no-spray list will be sprayed before Monday.
The spray kills adult mosquitoes while they fly, so neighborhoods are sprayed at dawn or dusk, when mosquitoes are most active. The spray breaks down quickly, especially when exposed to sunlight.
Though it’s possible that the spray could kill beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies, that risk is minimal, said Celeste Welty, associate professor of entomology at Ohio State University. The “good bugs” don’t come out as much when it’s dark, she said.
Birds and bats who eat those insects won’t likely be harmed much either, because they typically prefer larger insects or caterpillars, said Jim McCormac, a biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Still, some people are concerned about the spray’s use.
“It’s meant to kill organisms,” said Bill Mitsch, a professor of environment and natural resources at Ohio State. “It’s a poison, so you have to be very careful.”
And there are other options, he said. Predators in waterways — where mosquito larvae mature — are one.
“Even the people with backyard ponds in Upper Arlington know that,” he said. “If you have goldfish in your pond, you’re not going to have mosquitoes.”
Rodriguez said much of the city’s anti-mosquito efforts do wipe out the larvae. Spraying adult mosquitoes is a last-ditch effort, the necessity of which he hopes residents will accept.
“If I’m living in the part of town with no mosquitoes, there’s no disease, then I’m lucky,” he said. “For others in areas that have disease, then I’m lucky, because we’re sprayed and I don’t get sick.”
Information from Reuters was included in this story.