FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Connecticut Department of Public Health
October 31, 2007 Contact: William Gerrish
(860) 509-7270
CT Agricultural Experiment Station
Contact: Dr. Theodore Andreadis
(203) 974-8510
Hartford – The State Mosquito Management Program today announced that mosquito trapping and testing has concluded for the 2007 season. The program will resume in June 2008. The state also announced that a resident of Cheshire tested positive for West Nile virus (WNV) infection bringing to six the total number of Connecticut residents diagnosed with WNV associated disease this season.
The Cheshire resident is between 70 and 79 years of age, and became ill during the second week of August. West Nile virus was not initially suspected. As the illness progressed it was characterized by fever, skin rash, headache, and muscle pain. A sample of the patient’s blood was submitted to a commercial laboratory and tested positive for antibodies indicating WNV infection. The patient was briefly hospitalized and has recovered.
“Due to the onset of cold weather, mosquito populations and the risk of transmission of mosquito-borne diseases are very low,” said Department of Public Health Commissioner, J. Robert Galvin, MD, MPH, MBA. “The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station will resume mosquito trapping and testing next June.”
This season, WNV positive mosquitoes were identified in 15 towns – Bridgeport, Bethany, Danbury, Darien, Glastonbury, Greenwich, Hartford, Manchester, New Haven, Newington, Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford, West Haven, and Westport from June 26 to October 3. Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) was identified in mosquitoes collected in two towns – Ledyard and Plainfield. Six persons, residents of Cheshire, Danbury, Darien, Hartford, New London, and Woodbridge have recovered after being diagnosed with WNV-associated illnesses. No human cases of EEEV have been identified in Connecticut.
To monitor WNV and EEEV, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station maintained a network of 91 mosquito-trapping stations in 72 municipalities throughout the state from June through October. Mosquito traps were set by the CAES every ten days at each site on a rotating basis.
Nationally, as of October 23, 2007, human cases of WNV related illness were reported from 42 states. States in the Midwest and western United States accounted for the highest numbers of cases including Colorado (544), North Dakota (360), California (353), South Dakota (206), Montana (193), and Wyoming (179). WNV related illnesses were also reported in humans in the northeastern part of the United States: New York (14), Massachusetts (6), New Jersey (1), and Rhode Island (1).
The State of Connecticut Mosquito Management Program is an interagency program consisting of the Department of Environmental Protection, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Agriculture, and the University of Connecticut Department of Pathobiology and Veterinary Science.
Additional resources for information on West Nile virus and mosquito management:
· The Department of Public Health website at www.dph.state.ct.us
· The Department of Environmental Protection website at www.ct.gov/dep
· The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Web site at www.ct.gov/caes
· The Department of Agriculture Web site at www.ct.gov/doag
· The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at www.cdc.gov
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