READ About the Buzz: Maricopa County's New Zika Report - History, Map With Mosquito Hotspots, Action Plan, Treat Green Swimming Pools With Mosquito-Eating Fish

Maricopa County's action plan to fight a possible Zika virus outbreak has to be very different from other mosquito-borne viruses (such as West Nile), and it includes putting mosquito-eating fish in abandoned swimming pools.

John Townsend, the County's Vector Control Manager, explained the history of the Zika virus to the Board of Supervisors Monday, and pushed them to find ways to permit County employees to more quickly access backyards and green swimming pools where infected Aedis Aegypti mosquitoes might be found. The written portion of the informative presentation is reproduced below.

The nighttime fogging used to try to control the spread of the  West Nile virus is not as effective for the new Zika virus. This is because the mosquitoes primarily responsible for the spread of Zika during the past few years is a daytime insect that does not travel far in its (short) lifetime.

Throwing mosquito fish into green swimming pools in impacted areas (in addition to using larvicide) is a key tool to combat the spread. (The fish are an invasive species in Arizona, but use in individual pools would not appear to raise concern for native species.)

For more (and, different) information, please check out the Arizona Republic's article.

  Maricopa County Zika Report by arizonaspolitics on Scribd

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