Surveillance
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Surveillance Program
Surveillance is an integral part of providing quality mosquito control. Citrus County Mosquito Control District (CCMCD) performs a number of surveillance and monitoring functions to control the mosquito populations in our county. These functions include: landing rate counts, mosquito trap counts, larval sampling, sentinel chickens and telephone service requests.
Mosquito surveillance allows CCMCD to identify mosquito populations around the county and to plan daily mosquito control operations. The information we collect from surveillance programs helps us to locate mosquito problem areas and adhere to state rules and regulations regarding the justification for treatments to those areas. The information also helps us to measure the potential for transmission of mosquito-bourne diseases.
Landing Rate Counts
Our field inspectors communicate any high landing rate counts they obtain in the field to our surveillance team. This can be a combination of hotspots; well known breeding locations or any newly discovered breeding sites. This information is just one factor that helps us plan our daily missions.
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Mosquito Traps
Located around Citrus County are several New Jersey light traps. These traps use a small light to attract adult mosquitoes. As the mosquitoes move closer to the light they get sucked in by a small but powerful fan. Also located around Citrus County on a more temporary basis are CDC traps. CDC traps emit a small amount of CO2. Mosquitoes home in on the trap mistaking it for an animal and a small fan sucks them into the trap. Traps are collected 3 times a week. These collections are separated by species and counted under a microscope. CCMCD uses this data to help identify mosquito populations and problem areas. The population counts helps to determine where to focus our attention for daily spray operations, while the type of species we find narrows our focus to certain habitats that may be breeding around the trap area. See a map of our New Jersey light trap locations around the county.
Sentinel Chicken Program
Our sentinel chicken program consists of several chicken sites located around the county. Each chicken site contains 6 chickens from which blood is drawn from on a weekly basis. This blood is sent to a lab to be check for mosquito-bourne diseases such as but not limited to: EEE (Eastern Equine Encephalitis), SLE (St. Louis Encephalitis), and WNV (West Nile Virus). Chickens are immune to these viruses and create anti-bodies. CCMCD monitors for these anti-bodies which gives us an early warning that a mosquito-bourne disease is in a general area of the county and we can focus our efforts on that area. See a map of our sentinel chicken sites around the county.
Larval Sampling
Larval Sampling is another technique the CCMCD uses to monitor
mosquito production in the county. Inspecting locations for larvae
helps us to determine locations where mosquito breeding occurs and
where larviciding is necessary. Inspectors visit these locations and
collect larvae using a dipper to determine if larvae is present. There
are hundred of breeding sites in the county that are routinely
inspected including; drain retention areas, catch basins, fresh water
swamps, road side ditches and salt marsh areas.
Telephone Service Requests
Telephone service requests is an information gateway CCMCD uses to monitor mosquito populations around the county. The district has a telephone number that citizens can call to inform the district about possible mosquito problems in their neighborhood. A telephone service request may notify the district of a new problem area that is not being monitored and may need attention. However, many service request refer to problems that are produced around the home or at a neighboring home. For example, people who have birdbaths, plants, tires, debris, open containers, ponds, or anything that can hold standing water for more than a couple days can contribute to mosquito production around their home. Please visit our Fight the Bite section of the website to see ways to reduce mosquito productions around your home.
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