Tulsa Health Department Says Mosquito Surveillance Program Is Working

<p>The Tulsa Health department is zeroing in on a north Tulsa neighborhood after a mosquito tested positive there for West Nile last week. Officials it's proof their mosquito surveillance program works.</p><span id="selectionBoundary_1405984205499_488660367205739" class="rangySelectionBoundary" style="line-height: 0; display: none;">?</span>

Monday, July 21st 2014, 7:20 pm

By: News On 6


The Tulsa Health department is zeroing in on a north Tulsa neighborhood after a mosquito tested positive there for West Nile last week. Officials at the Health Department said the discovery is proof their mosquito surveillance program works.

The traps were set, a bug tested positive for West Nile and Monday night two trucks were spraying the area. The goal is to control the mosquito population, and they will focus on ten square mile area.

Monitoring mosquitoes is mostly a numbers game.

"What we are doing was the surveillance to detect the West Nile Virus," said Bernand Dindy with the Tulsa Health Department.

Tulsa County Officials set 50 traps a week. Since the start of the season they have tested about 290 traps and 6,100 mosquitoes.

Last week one sample from northern Tulsa County tested positive for West Nile Virus.

7/18/2014 Related Story: Tulsa Health Department Finds Mosquitos Carrying West Nile Virus

"We were actually spraying before we got the West Nile Virus positive, because we used our traps for surveillance to see if there was an increase in mosquito population and when we saw that we started spraying," Dindy said.

The positive sample was found in the square mile between Peoria and Lewis and 66th Street North and 76th Street North. Monday night officials targeted north Tulsa to Turley where two trucks sprayed a ten square mile area.

"We are going to try and concentrate in that area because we know these mosquitos can travel," said Dindy.

The spray is used to kill the biting bugs' eggs before they become adults. It happens at dusk and they ask anyone that sees the trucks to stay away.

"Usually if we see a group of citizens on the street we cut the sprayer off until we pass them and cut the sprayer back on, just use a little extra caution," said Dindy.

The Health Department said spraying for mosquitoes isn't anything new, and if you live in Tulsa County, trucks will be in your neighborhood soon.

7/18/2014 Related Story: Experts Offer Tips To Keep Tulsans Safe From Mosquitoes

"Weather permitting, we try and spray two, three trucks Monday and Thursday nights," Dindy said.

To place a complaint about mosquitoes in your area, you can call 918-595-4219. 

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