How To Prevent Mosquitoes And W.Va.’s Disease Risk

The Dog Days of Summer are prime months for mosquito activity due to the hot weather. People also spend more time outdoors during this time of the year, increasing the risk of mosquito bites.

Mosquitoes can carry many diseases, including Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare but potentially deadly disease that made headlines recently after a 41-year-old New Hampshire man died after being infected.

The Public Health Officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, Dr. Steven Eshenaur says there have been no cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in humans in West Virginia, though it has been identified in birds.

“I inquired with our epidemiologist to make sure, but so far, there have been no confirmed cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in the state in humans,” Eshenaur said. “It has been found in birds, I believe, but not in actual humans in West Virginia, which is a good thing, because that disease does have a high incidence of mortality in those that do get sick from it.”

Eshenaur also said another disease carried by mosquitoes, West Nile Virus is very rare in West Virginia, though it has made its own headlines after the nation’s former top health official, Dr. Anthony Fauci fell ill with the disease recently.

“The other one that a lot of people worry about, and the one that Dr Fauci fell ill to, is the West Nile virus,” Eshenaur said. “West Nile is, fortunately for us, it’s very rare in West Virginia.”

Eshenaur shared some tricks and practices to limit your family’s exposure to mosquitoes during these dog days of summer. He advised wearing long sleeves and pants to limit exposed skin and to use a repellant like DEET or even eucalyptus oil.

“There are things that you can do to help protect yourself,” Eshenaur said. “First is wearing long pants, long shirts, to limit your amount of exposed skin, and the second is to use mosquito repellents.”

Eshenaur noted that most mosquito activity happens at dawn and dusk and to try to get rid of mosquito havens on or around your property. Remove stagnant standing water caught in places like barrels, buckets and tires.

“Try to get rid of the mosquitoes,” Eschenaur said. “That is removing standing water, barrels, buckets, pools of water that may be on your property. Tires are a big source of stagnant water, because they hold tires that will hold water in them, and they form little breeding grounds for those little mosquitoes.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Marshall Health.