By Evan Merrill
NKyTribune intern
The Northern Kentucky Health Department is stressing awareness and prevention as the keys to stopping the spread of the Zika virus this mosquito season.
With seven confirmed cases in Kentucky – including one in Northern Kentucky – the health department intends to educate the public to help contain the virus.
At a news conference Thursday, the department recommended the use of insect repellent, even for children, and suggested keeping bodies covered, including long sleeves. The department also warned that sitting water provides a place for mosquitos to breed.
Despite the growing threat, Steve Divine, director of environmental health and safety at the Northern Kentucky Health Department, insists the Northern Kentucky area doesn’t face serious infestation because it has limited breeding sites.
“Areas along the Gulf Coast, Texas, Florida are the prime areas that will see this first from a continental U.S. standpoint,” Divine said. “Although we have some of those mosquitoes in our area, I don’t see it as a top-of-the-list type location with concern.”
But the threat still exists for pregnant women and fetuses. Zika has been shown to be dangerous to fetuses, causing birth defects such as microcephaly and other birth defects, according to Dr. Lynne Saddler, district director of health.
“One thing we know about Zika is that it likes to attack nerve tissue,” Saddler said. “So any place that you have nerves are a potential. There are children in other countries, Brazil for example, where they have seen a lot of Zika infections in pregnant women and infants who have had a whole list of other issues. Some of that comes from the microcephaly, but things like hearing loss and vision issues and other kinds of things related to brain and nerve function” also have been present.
The Aedes mosquito genus, which is known for carrying the virus, is present in Northern Kentucky. Officials from the health department are beginning to test to see how populous the Aedes is in the area.
The department has placed two mosquito traps in each county in Northern Kentucky and will move traps based on results.
These traps release carbon dioxide and use lights to attract mosquitoes, which will then be sucked into the trap by a fan.
The traps have been improved over the years in regard to design and effectiveness, with a better battery on the trap as well as an improved light setup, according to the health department.
Although mosquitoes will be caught and counted for an estimate of the Aedes genus, they will not be sent to the state labs for testing – at least not yet.
Dr. Saddler said the Northern Kentucky case involved a man who had traveled out of the country, where Zika is present. “We don’t have any evidence at this point that there’s Zika in our local mosquito population,” she said.
Until further evidence arises or the state approves testing at the labs at the University of Kentucky, the specific mosquitoes will not be analyzed.
More information, as well as prevention steps, can be found at www.nkyhealth.org
Evan Merrill is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky. He is from Covington.