By Staff
As news of more animals testing positive for WNV in Escambia County was announced Monday, the closeness and reality of the situation hit home for even more people. That two local deaths have been linked, although still not confirmed, to mosquito-borne illnesses is another reminder of how dangerous mosquito bites can be.
The cities and county, as well as the local health department, are to be commended for their efforts to educate the public about how to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds and for their integrated approach to mosquito control. By using a combination of adultcide and larvacide, we can battle the mosquitoes at two of their four life stages.
However, it's clear that not everyone is getting the message about dumping water from old tires and buckets. In addition, there are areas of standing water and long, marshy grass all over Brewton and East Brewton. As the community's newspaper, we have shared the messages and alerts, but beginning today, we plan to take it a step further.
On page five of today's Standard, you'll see a picture, taken Tuesday, of a potential mosquito breeding ground. It is our hope that the owner of those tires will dump them, and then drill holes or slits in them so that future water collected in them will be able to drain out rather than become home to potentially hundreds of mosquitoes. In addition to the picture, we are seeking the public's input so that we might bring attention to other sites and that by doing so, those situations might be corrected.
Fighting mosquitoes successfully will take a community-wide effort, but in our view, it's an effort well spent. While we can never completely eliminate the problem, every step we take to cut down on its rampant spread could potentially save a life.