McCall Idaho Headline News

Valley County commissioners are not yet ready to form a taxing district to pay for mosquito control, commission chair Jerry Winkle said Friday.

And, the county will hold off planned aerial spraying of mosquitoes until the first case of West Nile virus contracted within the county is reported, Winkle said.

West Nile Virus is a potentially deadly disease spread by mosquitoes that can sicken humans and animals.

Gov. Butch Otter has given the county a two-year reprieve to allow mosquito spraying using state funds without the need to form a district Winkle said.

The public would have advance notice before a district is formed. The county would initiate an environmental impact study and hold public hearings prior to that happening, he said.

Creating the district is not imminent and would be for the control of all pests, not just mosquitoes, he said.

The West Nile virus was first detected in the county last year in mosquitoes trapped at Tamarack Resort.

Winkle believes that educating the public on taking precautions could decrease or eliminate the disease threat to the county. The county would rather try education first before resorting to a district, he said.

Idaho led nation in cases
Last year, Idaho led the nation with West Nile cases and was second in deaths from the disease. The Center for Disease Control Web site shows 996 cases and 21 deaths reported in Idaho. Texas came in second with 354 reported cases but was first in deaths-there the virus took 32 lives.

"We do not want to be number one again, and we're going to put a lot of emphasis on education," Winkle said. "A lot of people can take care of this problem themselves."

Valley County signed a contract with Clarke Mosquito Control of Chicago last week to conduct aerial spraying.

The company is about 60 years old, one of the oldest companies in the mosquito abatement industry, according to the company's Web site. Scope of operations extends outside the United States to other countries where mosquito-borne diseases are a menace.

Aerial spraying would commence if local health authorities report a human case caused by local mosquitoes, and Clarke could be in the air within 96 hours, Winkle said.

Should aerial spraying be called for, then spray could be applied where needed inside cities and in the county. State funding would be available for spraying. Winkle did not say how much spraying would cost.

However, there is concern for people with allergies being affected by aerial spraying, he said. Winkle has received anywhere from 12 to 20 calls in a week from people asking about spraying and about two calls in a week from people worried about resulting respiratory problems.

A schedule for fogging from the ground is being prepared but no work has been done yet, county Weed Superintendent Kevin Gaither said Monday. Fogging would likely be done around nonresidential areas during early morning hours when the air is still and mosquitoes active, Winkle said.

Funds for fogging would come out of the county's weed budget, and the preliminary cost estimate is between $300 and $500.

To kill mosquitoes, Clarke would use pyrethrins, a natural pesticide derived from a form of chrysanthemum, combined with another chemical, called PBO, that boosts pyrethrins' effectiveness.

Pyrethrins and the enhancer breakdown into benign substances over 24 hours and exposure to sunlight, Clarke spokesman Laura McGowan said.

No special precautions such as washing are necessary for outdoor furniture and other surfaces, McGowan said.

A study done in waterways near Sacramento, Calif., found PBO in sediment reacted with existing pesticides in the environment, but the risk is slight, according to McGowan.

"While the PBO was shown to present some challenges in waterways, to the degree that waterways are really impacted by that is very minimal especially with the combination we have available to us," she said.