Agencies like the Broward County Mosquito Control office in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) have Zika plans in place. Certain areas, like the Gulf Coast and parts of New York in neighborhoods where residents often travel to Zika-affected countries, might be of the first to report a locally transmitted case of Zika virus in the United States.
Particularly in Southern states that are home to the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitos, many local governments are interested in spraying to prevent a Zika outbreak. But according to today’s New York Times, most counties and cities do not have mosquito control programs.
Even the many Florida counties that have annual mosquito abatement program budgets to prevent the spread of West Nile virus, dengue fever and chikungunya are looking for more money. Broward County currently has a $1.3 million for mosquito control, according to Kaiser Health News. Broward County is one of about two dozen Florida local governments that are collectively seeking additional federal funds to address threats of Zika outbreaks.
In the last month, Broward County reported twice the number of calls requesting spraying, some 400 per day. To prevent Zika-carrying mosquitos from spreading the infection of Florida residents that have it, protocol is to spray in the immediate area around the infected person’s home and remove any standing water. Broward requested $650,000 in additional funding to hire four more inspectors and add four more spray trucks.
New York City has designated 21 clinic sites to address any cases and in May, DOHMH began aerially spraying larvicide and adulticide. The city’s protocol is if more than 25 suspect mosquitoes are trapped on a given day, trucks will spray biorational pesticides in residential areas.
The company Inovio has a vaccine that could protect people from Zika, and has U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval to test it. But achieving a reliable, safe vaccine could be months or years away.
In the meantime, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said that it does not expect a widespread Zika outbreak. CDC published a draft interim response plan this month detailing how it will support state and local governments preparations. When notified by a state health department of a locally transmitted Zika virus infection, CDC will:
- Assist with case confirmation via sampling
- Assist with rapid epidemiologic investigation
- Ensure plans for notification of blood centers in affected area
- Activate and deploy community emergency response teams
- Intensify case surveillance around local area identified and assist as needed
- Re-issue health communication information for personal protective measures, contraception messages, repellent and pregnancy guidance
- Assist with entomologic evaluation
- Report under International Health Regulations
So far, there have been no locally transmitted Zika virus cases, according to a Physician’s Weekly map of the latest Zika cases and statistics.
Learn more about the virus in our Roundup of Top 5 Zika stories.
