PA Counties Prep For West Nile Virus

It's that time of the year again—mosquito season. Area governments are urging residents to take precautions to avoid West Nile Virus. Both Montgomery and Chester counties have already issued out a release offering residents tips and precautions on the virus. 

Last year, 60 human cases tested positive in Pennsylvania and four died, according to Pennsylvania's West Nile Virus Control Program. But good news comes to the Southeastern Pennsylvania area: $727,010 in grant money was acquired for West Nile surveillance and prevention this year for Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, and Bucks counties, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The state's West Nile Virus Surveillance and Control Program offers tips on how to prepare your home before the virus hits the area:

• Dispose of tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots or similar water-holding containers that have collected on your property.
• Pay special attention to discarded tires. Stagnant water in tires are where most mosquitoes breed.
• Drill holes in the bottom of recycling containers left outdoors.
• Have clogged roof gutters cleaned every year, particularly if the leaves from surrounding trees have a tendency to plug up the drains. Roof gutters can produce millions of mosquitoes each season.
• Turn over plastic wading pools when not in use. Stagnant water in a wading pool becomes a place for mosquitoes to breed.
• Turn over wheelbarrows and don't let water stagnate in birdbaths. Both provide breeding habitats for domestic mosquitoes.
• Aerate ornamental pools or stock them with fish. Water gardens can become major mosquito producers if they are allowed to stagnate. Clean and chlorinate swimming pools not in use. A swimming pool left untended by a family on vacation for a month can produce enough mosquitoes to result in neighborhood-wide complaints. Mosquitoes may even breed in the water that collects on pool covers.

For more information, visit the PA West Nile Virus Surveillance and Control Program's website here.