La Quinta resident tests positive for West Nile Virus
The Riverside County Department of Public Health confirmed that a La Quinta resident tested positive for West Nile virus, the first human case in the valley this year.
The Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District will be in La Quinta to set additional traps, increase larval surveillance to identify mosquito breeding sources, and carry out larval and adult control as necessary in an effort to reduce the number of mosquitoes and protect public health.
Residents are urged to assist in reducing mosquito populations particularly after the recent rains. While those rains brought cooler temperatures to the Coachella Valley, the water left behind provides havens for potentially virus-spreading mosquitoes.
Valley residents can help reduce mosquitos by draining standing water, applying insect repellent, wear long sleeves and pants along with avoiding peak hours for mosquitos such as during dawn and dusk.
“Don’t let mosquitoes take over your yard,” said Jeremy Wittie, MS, Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District General Manager. “The effort you put in now to get rid of standing water in your yard will protect you and your family’s health when outside enjoying our cooler temperatures.”
There have been 134 samples of mosquitoes that have tested positive for West Nile virus, Saint Louis encephalitis virus, or for both viruses in 2017. The second highest number of positive samples in the Coachella Valley was 119 during the same period in 2015.
Most of the samples of mosquitoes that tested positive were collected in Mecca, Thermal, and the North Shore area of the Salton Sea.
Disease notification signs have been placed in the area to alert the public, and prevention and protection materials have been distributed to clinics, markets, schools, and community centers in the area. In response to the increased virus activity and in an effort to reduce the number of mosquitoes and interrupt elevated virus transmission, the District has been searching for and treating standing water sources, increased trapping, and carried out aerial adult control applications in the East Valley on September 11 and 12.
The District is also continuing its aerial larval control campaign against the invasive Aedes mosquito in Palm Springs, the city which has seen the largest infestation so far in the Valley of Aedes aegypti.
Helicopter applications targeting mosquito larvae have been underway in Palm Springs since the end of July and will continue for three more Saturdays, 5-7 a.m. on September 16, 23, and 30. The application zone is in between East Sunny Dunes, South Sunrise Way, East Via Carisma, and the mountains.
Aedes aegypti was first detected in the Coachella Valley in the City of Coachella in May 2016 and has since been detected in Indio, Cathedral City, Palm Springs, and La Quinta. After months of intensive surveillance and control strategies in Coachella, Indio, and Cathedral City, new detections of the invasive mosquito in those areas have dropped substantially.
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