The Board of Health opted for another pesticide application of mosquitoes despite not immediate health concerns detected.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Illness bearing mosquitoes have not yet been seen in the area this summer but the Board of Health Wednesday authorized a third pesticide application for select pockets of the city where mosquito populations remain high.

 

Director of Public Health Gina Armstrong told the board that so far this year, no sign of either West Nile Virus or Eestern Equine Encaphalitis has been detected in any of the sampled bugs.  

 

The absence of a positive test for bloodborne illness has so far defied predictions earlier this season. Last year, 29 samples had tested positive for West Nile and two for EEE.

 

"We've had two sets of samples go to the state so far, all negative," Armstrong told the board.

 

Insect populations remain high in the parts of the city, however.  This week, Berkshire County Mosquito Control tested populations in areas covered in previous sprayings, using both traps and landing counts, which measure the number of mosquitoes that land on a person in one minute at a particular site.

 

Brunswick Street, Palamino Drive, Drand Avenue, and Joseph Drive all had landing counts of between 17 to 20 per minute, while double the thresh hold levels were found in traps at Garland Ave, as well as Lillybrook Road, which was not part of the original spraying zones.   

 

Mosquito Control has twice swept many of these streets with either adulticide or larvicide to bring down the adult populations and reduce the breeding population at their bases.

 

"While some areas of the city are drying up, these areas continue to see high migration," said Armstrong.

 

The board weighed the request for another pesticide application in light of the apparent reduced risk of infection.

 

"We still don't have confirmed disease, and that was kind of what we talked about as our criteria for making a decision. This year we expected that there were going to be high West Nile and Equine counts, so we made the decision based on the sheer volume of mosquitoes," said Chairwoman Roberta Orsi. "We're not making the decision based on nuisance, we're making it based on the risk of disease."

 

While no West Nile has been found in the county yet this year, it has turned up elsewhere in Massachusetts. Pittsfield remains ranked at a "low" risk level for EEE, with the rest of Berkshire County listed as "remote."

 

"It's important for the public to know that we never do this lightly," said board member Jay Green, who recommended that BCMC nonetheless be given the go ahead to conduct another round of spraying in these select neighborhoods to see if it would help bring down the high volumes seen there.  

 

The board approved the measure, despite some unanswered questions about remaining budget resources and whether the persistent areas are correlated with places in which more homeowners may have opted out of spraying. The board is now asking that BCMC administrator Chris Horton be in attendance at the rest of the board's meetings through the summer season.

 

The next round of spraying is slated to be conducted over the weekend.  Residents are encouraged to sign up for the city's CodeRed alert system for updates on sprayings that may effect their area, as well as other potential public health updates.