Public Asked To Report Sick Or Dead Wild Birds To DNREC’s Mosquito Control Section For 2012 West Nile Virus Monitoring

DOVER – The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Mosquito Control Section is again asking the public’s help in monitoring West Nile virus by reporting sick or dead wild birds of certain species that may have contracted the virus. West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne disease that rates of considerable concern to the health of humans and unvaccinated horses.

Beginning Monday, June 4, the Mosquito Control Section requests that the public report sick or dead birds of the following species only: crows, blue jays, cardinals, robins, and hawks or owls, plus clusters of five or more sick or dead wild birds of any species. Bird specimens should have been dead for less than 24 hours and not appear to have died or been killed by other obvious causes. The collecting and testing of virus-suspect wild birds may continue through the end of September, said Dr. William Meredith, Delaware’s Mosquito Control administrator.

After initial processing by the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s Poultry & Animal Health Lab, bird specimens collected by DNREC’s Mosquito Control Section will be submitted to the Delaware Public Health Laboratory for virus testing. From early July through mid- or late October, the Mosquito Control Section also will operate its statewide network of 23 sentinel chicken stations – which “keep watch” for WNV and for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), another mosquito-borne viral disease which affects horses and humans.

One human case and one equine case of WNV were reported in Delaware in 2011, the first since 2008, according to the Delaware Division of Public Health. In 2003, the state had 17 reported human cases and two human fatalities from WNV, which is primarily transmitted by the common house mosquito. That year there were also six stricken horses. In 2004 and 2006, no cases of WNV were reported in humans or horses; in 2005 two human cases were reported, with no horse cases; and in both 2007 and 2008, one human case was reported.

More