West Nile Arrives in Sioux Falls, City Takes Action

One of the mosquito trapping sites that the city oversees tested positive for the West Nile virus. Central Sioux Falls was the general location where the virus was found.

What happens next according to Denise Patton the Health Program Coordinator is more mosquito spraying as a response. “We’re already spraying the city again next week based on higher numbers than we want. We’re going to knock all the numbers down if we can instead of focusing on one spot. However if we weren’t needing to do a city-wide spray we would target that particular zone that the trap was in.”

Different mosquitoes pose their own unique challenges and Patton says the drier weather brings out the Culex variety which carries West Nile. “They prefer areas that dry up periodically. So when we get drier conditions like this, it’s near perfect conditions. When we have a ton of rain and a lot of water sitting everywhere, the risk for (West Nile) actually goes lower, but we have more biting mosquitoes.”

Patton wants to reassure the public that even though West Nile is present, there is no need for panic. “Not every single (Culex variety mosquito) carries the virus. A very small percentage of them carry (West Nile). An even smaller percentage of those might bite somebody.”

West Nile can affect the body in three different ways. “One of them makes you feel like you have the flu or mono. The more severe forms are encephalitis or meningitis,” says Patton. No human cases have been detected yet, but preventing yourself from being the first is relatively easy. Suggestions include wearing bug spray, proper clothing choices like long sleeves and pants plus preventing standing water in your yard.

Sioux Falls oversees 32 trapping sites inside and outside city limits. Mosquitoes have the ability to fly over ten miles per day. A map of the mosquito spraying zones is found at the link found here.