| Suffolk County (NY) Div. of Vector Control - Suffolk
County was heavily involved in the response to West Nile Virus
(WNV) in 1999, assisting in New York City and responding to virus activity
at home. The County is working closely with the State Department of Health
(DOH) and Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in planning the
surveillance, prevention and response in 2000, as well as putting its own
programs in place. Control is handled by the Division of Vector Control in
the Department of Public Works, under the direction of Superintendent
Dominick Ninivaggi. Surveillance is run by Dr. Scott Campbell, Entomologist from the County Department of Health Services. Dr. Campbell has been active in the DOH workgroup for Surveillance, while Ninivaggi has worked with the Prevention, Control and Response Workgroup. These Workgroups are assembling action plans that will guide a coordinated response involving State, City, County and other local governments. The Suffolk representatives assembled the working drafts of their Workgroup reports, and have therefore played a major role in this effort. DOH is hiring staff to upgrade its viral surveillance program, and will help coordinate a general expansion of mosquito control efforts, along with DEC. New York City and several upstate counties are starting mosquito control programs of one sort or another. In Suffolk County, Health Services plans to hire 3 staff and acquire new equipment to substantially upgrade the Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory. The exact form of this upgrade will depend on guidelines set out be CDC and DOH, but will eventually involve testing many of our own samples. WNV surveillance must be done in addition to our existing EEE surveillance. For control, DPW has been given 17 new positions plus funding for vehicles and equipment. These positions will eventually result in a doubling of our ground larviciding effort from 7 to 14 field crews. This will allow us to have field crews throughout the County, rather than only in areas with high nuisance or EEE problems. We are concerned not only about Culex pipiens, but also species that transmit in the lab, such as Aedes sollicitans and Aedes japonicas. We are the only county to have horse deaths from WNV, so we are concerned about possible rural transmission cycles involving vectors other than Culex. We have not neglected water management, despite the cold winter, and plan a major (200+ acres) OMWM project at the National Park Services William Floyd Estate. We have a wide-track Kobelco excavator on order and are going to bid on an amphibious excavator and additional amphibious ditcher. Ironically, if not for WNV, 1999 would have been the quietest year in a long, long time. Salt marsh mosquitoes were almost non-existent, thanks to our aerial larvicide, and it was dry. Instead, this has been the busiest winter in many years here. Dominick Ninivaggi, Supt. |
Revised:
January 14, 2004