U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer is pushing for more local funding to help prevent the spread of West Nile Virus in New York as the Chautauqua County Health Department urges residents to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
Chautauqua County Environmental Health Director Bill Boria said a positive case of West Nile Virus was found in a horse in Ashville last week, “Also, there’s Eastern Equine Encephalitis, which is another virus that’s carried by mosquitoes. It’s not nearly as prevalent as West Nile Virus and there was a actual positive horse for what we call ‘Triple E’ in Conewango Valley in Cattaraugus County which isn’t far away from us.”
Senator Schumer said data shows this was one of the worst summers in terms of the mosquito population and that it could last well into fall.
He announced a two-pronged push to ensure the Environmental Protection Agency keeps resources coming to New York and an upcoming budget boost to increase the Centers for Disease Controls ‘vector borne disease’ dollars delivered by the agency to ensure New York State has the resources they need to survey, test, educate and respond to dramatic increases in the mosquito population, such as the one seen this summer, and could keep seeing into the future.
Boria said residents are asked to protect themselves by wearing insect repellent, long pants, socks, and long sleeve shirts to protect from mosquito bites. He said with the wet summer season, they also should remove any standing water from their property, “You know like buckets or wheelbarrows or kiddie pools – anything like that that could potentially be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”
There is no commercially available human vaccine for either West Nile Virus or Eastern Equine Encephalitis. Vaccines are available for horses in consultation with a veterinarian.
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