Mosquito was rages locally

Mosquitoes are out in force and looking for blood early this year.

In St. Tammany Parish the war to vanquish the winged varmints is already in high gear.

The two main reasons for the early infestation, a month and a half earlier than usual, are weather related. An early warming trend combined with heavy rainfall has created ideal conditions for the pests, said Charles T. Palmisano, director of St. Tammany Parish Mosquito Abatement District No. 2.

"It's unusual in the sense that the season is starting so early. It's quite extreme right now," Palmisano said. So extreme, in fact, Palmisano's office has been in its "control mode" for the last six weeks. During normal years, mosquito control does not kick in until late March.

His office is receiving 4 to 5 calls a day from residents requesting assistance in dealing with mosquitoes. Each call, Palmisano said, is answered within 24 hours.

Between answering calls, the mosquito abatement district is rolling a fleet of 10 trucks, two airplanes and five inspectors, spraying, killing and scouting enemy strength daily. The major problem Palmisano and his squad are facing when it comes to spraying is the ever-shifting weather.

Spraying can only be done in the early evening hours when adult mosquitoes come out looking for a bite. Springtime weather often sees temperatures dropping off quickly, driving mosquitoes back into their lairs. Sometimes this window of opportunity to spray lasts only 30 to 60 minutes, which is not nearly enough time to eradicate the menace.

The cost of mechanizing mosquito control is "pretty expensive," Palmisano said. For one airplane sortie spraying 10,500 acres, the cost is $5,700. Rolling out all ten trucks runs somewhere between $1,200 to $1,500 a night.

"We've got about 48 species (of mosquito) in St. Tammany Parish and not all of them are a problem for us," Palmisano said. Over the course of the year, 10 species do the most damage, with only half prowling the airways at any one time.

The bad apples at this point in time are the Aedes Vexanf and the Culex Salanir. The buzzing blood suckers are coming mainly from wooded and marshy areas, but along with official spraying efforts, residents can do their part to control their number.

"Check for areas holding water and turn them over, because they will breed mosquitoes," Palmisano said. "Mosquito control has got to be a community-wide effort. You'd be surprised by the number of people that call us and find out their problem is directly related to mosquitoes that are breeding right there."

The current crop of mosquitoes prefer the relative privacy of suburban marsh, but come late summer - May through July - that will change. The importance of minimizing breeding areas will become more urgent.

For now the best defense is pesticides. The one used by the abatement district is Resmethmrin. It is a synthetic pyrethroid, which is a man-made derivative of a naturally occurring plant defense. "We wouldn't advise anybody to come into direct contact with it," Palmisano said. "But the health risk is extremely minimal. Casual contact is no problem."

Which is more than can be said for possible disease incurred from a mosquito bite. Palmisano said, the Culex Salanir is suspected of carrying encephalitis. It is a disease which causes inflammation of the brain affecting the very old and the very young. It has a five to eight percent mortality rate. Later in the year the Southern House Mosquito will join the ranks of the blood thirsty and is a confirmed carrier of the disease.

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