Mosquito spraying conducted in Indio neighborhoods

A round of preventative mosquito spraying was conducted in Indio neighborhoods Wednesday morning in response to the recent detection of a species capable of transmitting deadly viruses, local vector
control officials said.

Spraying occurred between 1 and 7 a.m. to combat the presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which officials at the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District said was first detected in Indio in October 2016.

Spraying will be conducted in an area bordered by Monroe Street, Crest Avenue, Avenue 44 and Jackson Street.

“The goal is two-fold,” CVMVCD spokeswoman Jill Oviatt said. “We want to knock down the number of invasive mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting serious viruses, including chikungunya, dengue and Zika, as well as reduce the population of local mosquitoes, which can infect people with viruses we see annually in the valley, such as West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis.”

The truck-mounted control efforts will target “immature mosquitoes in the water using a naturally occurring bacterium to kill mosquito larvae before they emerge into biting adults.”

Helicopter-based spraying was conducted in the same area early last year, reducing the mosquito population temporarily, but “they have gone back up,” according to the district.

Elsewhere in the Coachella Valley, mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile virus were detected recently in Palm Desert and Indian Wells, prompting increased trapping and surveillance in those cities.