LeMaringouin

July 2014

Inside this issue: Message from the President Greetings fellow control professionals! Well, the season has District News 2-6 finally started and we are off with a bang. Floodwater mosquitoes have been tough so far in all corners of the state. Vexans, sollicitans, pertur- Annual Meeting 7 bans, columbiae, ferox…..you name the species, and someone in the state has battled them in big numbers over the past month. Now we Things To Do 8 see WNV begin to peak its head out right on schedule. While the sea- New Orleans son started a little late and temperatures were mild early on, the sea- son is beginning to progress now in the normal form. Annual Meeting 9 Registration A new virus is in the news. To date we have had no locally transmitted cases, but have seen quite a few imported cases of Chikungunya virus across the U.S. The Code of Ethics 10 mosquito control professionals throughout the U.S. and especially here in Louisiana, are al- ways ready to face any challenge. Should the need arise, we will face this one successfully, too. Call For Papers 11 It is my honor to be associated with you all. You do a great job.

LSU Arbovirus Lab 12 In addition to the duties of running mosquito control programs, your LMCA board members News have been working hard and doing great things for the association this year. Another very successful Mosquito Academy took place in New Orleans earlier this year. Claudia Riegel and the crew at the NOMTCB went above and beyond once again! We are also in the planning phase for the 2014 LMCA Annual Meeting and the 2015 AMCA meeting. Both of these meet- ings will be held in New Orleans.

The AMCA Washington Days were a great success for our Louisiana group. Herff Jones and Dennis Wallette planned great meetings with our legislative leaders in D.C. Some ground breaking things are in the works. Dr. Kristin Healy will do some research projects in conjunc- tion with the districts, LMCA and LSU.

I wish you all the very best as you work hard through the season. If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Patrick Sutton [email protected] 225-287-2120 Page 2 LeMaringouin

District News

Caddo Summer inspectors quickly learned to identify the old “head hunter“ Ps. ferox. They could be found throughout the parish woodland habitat areas. You know ferox are a The 2014 year in Caddo Parish started slow. The cool nuisance when residents call wanting you to spray for temperatures in March and April kept the mosquitoes their outdoor pets to have relief. down even though heavy rain produced high larval counts. Our seasonal people began the first week of I never thought Guy May as temperatures became warmer and the rain con- Faget would be flying tinued. Lee Peck, from KPLC television, in our air- These conditions resulted in more dense outbreak of plane for a news story mosquitoes, with rural areas hit the hardest. We had Guy Faget on aerial spraying for high numbers of columbiae, Ps. ferox and Ps. mosquitoes. ciliata in the urban areas. The Aedes albopictus were very active causing a increase in public complaints. Lee did a good job on the evening news story and in- Adulticiding efforts proved ineffective due to the high cluded a couple of interview clips of Reagan Cook, one winds and excessive rain. Near the end of May as of our longtime contract pilots. Reagan is the chief pilot weather gave us a break, we started to spray the af- for Cameron Parish Mosquito Control. fected areas. The second week of June brought more heavy rain resulting in additional increase of mosquito control problems for us.

Caddo Parish welcomes Willie Watts to replace Karen Nichols. Willie attended the LMCA workshop and is working well with us in his first mosquito season. Two seasonal workers resigned the first week of May causing a shortage of spray truck drivers, with one Reagan driver position remaining vacant. Cook

We have caught plenty of Ae. vexans, Ps. columbiae and

Ps. ferox. Ae. albopictus continues to be a problem in Caleb Ardizzone, a McNeese summer intern, is work- urban areas. Our gravid trap collection has been down, ing on a summer project to test several types of mos- but we have collected enough for testing. quito traps with Biogents AG lures. Biogents AG is a German company which develops and tests attrac- tants, repellents and insecticide formulations, with special focus on mosquito control.

Positive mosquito pools recently picked Calcasieu up on the east side of the state. So far this year we have not had a positive mosquito pool for any arbovirus. In Cool temperatures early in the season kept mosquito the last 12 years we have only had 2 years without a hu- population below average through May. If water and man case of WNV. It will be interesting to see what hap- mosquitoes are synonymous, then together they corre- pens in our area as the mosquito season progresses. lated with our June light trap collections being in the top 3 of the last 17 years. In June we received 14.5 inches of rainfall and the average is 6.8 inches. We were expecting a parish wide mosquito outbreak at times, but mosquito problems seemed to be more lo- calized. Coquillettidia and Ps. columbiae made up the ma- jority of mosquitoes collected in June, while Ae. sollici- tans was the main nuisance species. Page 3 LeMaringouin

District News

In recent weeks we have been participating with Dr. Cameron Kristen Healy and Dr. James Otea of LSU with an EPA granted project examining mosquito adulticides and hon- This year has been very slow until just recently and eybee mortality. We will continue collaborating on this even now the mosquitoes are not very bad except in a research in the fall, when wind conditions are more fa- few areas. Recent rains have caused a slight increase in vorable for cage testing. mosquito populations and we made a few flights before and after the fourth of July. We have not had any evi- Our Director, Dr. Todd Walker has been very busy dence of mosquito borne viruses so far this year. We guiding our new construction project through the various have been searching for a pilot to train with Reagan stages of approval and funding. We see great things hap- Cook and eventually take his place. We had a very pening in the next few years with our facilities! qualified applicant come down from Illinois to see our parish and talk to the board. We fed him lots of good We are happy to welcome Glen Wilkerson aboard as Cajun food, took him on a tour of the Creole Nature our new Aircraft Operations Manager. Glen is rap- Trail, and showed him good fishing and hunting spots idly familiarizing himself with aerial spray operations, but since he loves the outdoors. Hopefully he will accept his biggest challenge is learning to work within the our offer we made because he would be a great fit for “calcified” government system for procurement. our program. In other news we have added two new trucks to our fleet bringing our total to 10. We have Congratulations to James Rabb for his promotion to them housed in four different stations throughout the Spray System Servicer. We are certain our mechan- parish to help the drivers out and give people in differ- ics, Nathan Tircuit and Louis Square can use his help ent communities an opportunity to work for us without in the shop. We also want to congratulate Pest Con- travelling so far to come to work. They are equipped trol Inspector I, Khaty Faty on her new job in Code with monitor 4-s GPS systems and we have like, they Enforcement with the Department of Public Works, and have been an asset to our program. welcome the new part-time employees Josh Harness, Tiara Davis, and Sylvia Hill to the team. We also We are considering upgrading all of the monitor 4 units want to welcome back for their 23rd year, our teachers, to the new 4-s units, they have very useful new fea- Charlene Scott and Marilynn Payne who conduct tures. The updated card reader takes regular SD cards the summer education programs. and having a faster operating system. We also recently purchased a large goose neck trailer to aid in evacuating Last year we had very little West Nile virus activity in our chemical inventory in case of a hurricane. Hope- EBR Parish, but we anticipate that changing this year fully we will not need to use it until I am old and re- since we already have had two WNV positive mosquito tired. pools in during June.

EBRPMARC Please visit our Facebook page to keep up with all of EBRPMARC’s activities. After a long, cold winter, we are definitely back in busi- ness. The floodwater populations have consistently https://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Baton-Rouge- been high from the frequent rain. Aedes vexans, Psoro- Parish-Mosquito-Abatement-and-Rodent- phora columbiae, and Psorophora ferox have been our Control/150040478370256 most common nuisance species in the light traps. Culex quinquefasciatus numbers are also increasing, particularly in areas where heavy rains have caused sewage over- flows into storm drains. In addition to their larviciding duties, our day crew is inspecting approximately 120 residences a day. We are working overtime on Satur- days to help address complaints from the large number of floodwater mosquitoes.

Page 4 LeMaringouin

District News

Iberia Orleans

December brought an end to 2013. The 2013 year was Cold temperatures and hard freezes in New Orleans this different in many ways from the previous 2012 season. past winter slowed mosquito populations this spring, our We had our typical floodwater mosquito season. The first ground ULV and aerial treatments were not until District had zero incidence of human and equine West early May. Despite the slow start, this summer has be- Nile Virus activity. Our mosquito surveillance submit- come a very active and busy season. ted just over 2,800 pools with only a 0.6% WNV posi- tive rate detected by RT-PCR. Our average maximum In February, NOMTCB staff attended the AMCA Annual likelihood estimate (MLE) per 1,000 for Culex quinque- Meeting in Seattle, W.A. Sarah Michaels presented on the fasciatus was only 0.91 (bias – corrected score). “Comparison of trapping methods for adult Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti mosquitoes in New Orleans, LA”. This Our crews aggressively targeted sites with indicated research compared trapping efficiency of Aedes species WNV activity as well as locations with past virus activ- using dry-ice baited CDC Light traps and BG Sentinel ity to achieve notable control with reduced larval traps. The BG Sentinel trap collected a larger average counts and Cx. quinq. numbers. As floodwater species number of both species but ovitraps remained the most numbers began to rise, so did service requests which sensitive indicator of species presence. We hope that this increased ground operations and aerial applications. research is informative for those interested in increasing Aerial operations proved to be effective against our Aedes surveillance. aggressive late season floodwater mosquitoes. These floodwater mosquitoes resulted from flooding rains In conjunction with LMCA, NOMTCB hosted the 2nd and tidal changes. The District conducted 18 flights Annual Mosquito Academy, from April 22-24. This pro- targeting 260,945 acres. This was well below our previ- gram offers comprehensive hands-on training in mosquito ous year averages. biology, control, field training and mosquito identifica- tion. It included presentations from mosquito control The District had an event filled program during Na- experts including Dr. Stan Cope from Terminix, Mr. tional Mosquito Awareness Week holding “Pilez” mos- Mark Latham from Manatee County MCD and Dr. quito week activities around the Parish. Local high Janet McAllister from the CDC. The class again had a schools visited the District facilities for hands on dis- full registration and students came from a variety of back- plays, and demonstrations related to mosquito biology, grounds, public and private entities and neighboring disease surveillance, and operational mosquito abate- states. ment. Our biologist and staff held educational events targeting younger children at the local libraries. The In partnership with a local not-for-profit organization, Director appeared on the local radio talk show for Bayou Land Resource, Conservation and Development questions and answers in regard to the emphasis on Council, NOMTCB was awarded a $67,000 grant from mosquito awareness and control. the U.S.EPA, Small Waters Grant to evaluate green infra- structure projects in the city. We will continue to equip our facility with laboratory instrumentation in 2014. This will be our second season The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) in our new facility. New challenges will be present in has completed rain gardens throughout the city and we the realm of mosquito control, but every year that will be studying how they impact water quality and mos- passes, our staff and employees gain experience that quito populations throughout the next 18 months. enables us to meet these challenges with confidence. We have also been gearing up our Aedes surveillance and control practices given the concern of the introduction of chikungunya virus by travelers returning from the Car- ibbean. We will be conducting field cage trials and have begun submitting samples for virus testing.

Page 5 LeMaringouin

District News

would naturally reduce the infection rate we couldn’t Ouachita take any chances due to experiencing those three human

As I don’t believe I got Ouachita’s 2013 summary in the cases in week 37 with the infection rate of 2.08. After last newsletter, I have included it below: CDC week 38, the infection rate remained below 3 with 2013 was a rather unfortunate year for Ouachita Parish one last NID case reported during CDC week 40. in relation to vector borne diseases. Much like 2012, the West Nile virus was extensive; however, there Unfortunately by the end of the season, Ouachita Parish were several major differences between the two years. had experienced 14 NID cases, 6 fever cases, and 1 PRE First, the virus was more prolific here than in other case. 2013 was the second worst year (2005 being the areas of the state or nation as opposed to 2012 where worst) for human West Nile infection in Ouachita Parish it was almost at epidemic proportions in many areas of since its arrival in Louisiana in 2002. the country. The second primary difference between the two years is how the disease presented itself. In To date in 2014, we have not seen any West Nile or 2012, like previous years, there was a gradual progres- other disease activity and hope that that trend continues sion of the disease that was easy to follow and treat- throughout the rest of the season. Due to early spring ment decisions could be made rather easily. In 2013 rains, we experienced some floodwater hatch offs in vari- however, there was no graduation of the virus as it ous locations throughout the parish in the spring. We presented in paramount fashion at once with human are just now beginning to experience higher “quink” cases immediately following. The infection rate did numbers due to having the prolonged winter and contin- show a significant drop in CDC week 34 (the fourth ual flushing rains throughout the spring/summer as the week of August); however, we continued to see human last two weeks we have not experienced those rains. transmission (NID) during weeks with the infection rate as low 2.08. Keep in mind that historically in Ouachita Wishing everyone a quiet season, Parish human transmission is primarily seen when the infection rate is over seven. In years past, we have seen human transmission of the virus when the infection rate is over five and below seven, again after a substantial St. Tammany introduction of the virus for said year. In 2013, there was human transmission while the infection rate was Adulticide measures began later than usual this year due 2.08. This was a new occurrence. One last bizarre to the below average temperatures in March and April. twist to 2013’s disease appearance was the fact that it In fact it wasn't until the end of April that we performed didn’t begin in its initial location (the Garden District of our first aerial adulticide mission; and ULV spray trucks Monroe) as is usual and move outwardly from there. It were not dispatched until the middle of April. However, first appeared in a different area and the proceeded to larvicide of the roadside ditches for "quink" control be- move around the parish skipping over areas and bounc- gan in early February to reduce the "seed" populations in ing to and from many corners of the parish. attempts to prevent larval buildup later in the coming weeks. Once warmer temperatures arrived, population Ouachita Parish Mosquito Abatement District re- levels picked up quickly. Rainfall events in May produced sponded to the disease in a direct manner. After re- very large populations of woodland species, which in- ceiving the first report of an infection rate over seven, cluded Ae. vexans, Ae. atlanticus, Ps. ferox, and Ae. vexans. we immediately treated the affected areas aerially. We There were two broods in May and then another very followed up two weeks later using the airplane once large brood in early June that covered practically the en- more due to continued high infection rates and the tire parish. Our pilots, Wayne Fisher and Charlie Porter, spread of the virus into previously unaffected areas. aerially treated 466,112 acres for "quinks" and woodland After the second round of aerial treatments, we experi- species. enced a drop in infection rates and human cases. How- ever, CDC week 37 is when we experienced the afore- Viki has been field testing Metalarv, a granular metho- mentioned human transmission (3 NID cases) with an prene formulation, against Ae. vexans, Ae. atlanticus and Cx. infection rate of 2.08. Due to a spike in the infection nigripalpus breeding in temporary woodland pools. It is rate during week 38, we treated once more aerially looking very promising. even though a significant rain event on September 20 Page 6 LeMaringouin

District News

St. Tammany …. continued

She has reported very good results over three flooding and drying periods. She will also be testing Sustain MBG, a granular Bti formulation, that is reported to provide about a 48 day control in roadside septic ditches against Cx. quinquefasciatus. If this product per- forms up to expectations, it will reduce the labor time involved in treating the roadside septic ditches.

Dr. Kevin Caillouet, who joined STPMAD last year, is undertaking a study of the effect of aerial application of Dibrom on mosquito contacts on nesting birds in St. Tammany Parish. His research team is using close-focus night vision HD video to count mosquito landings on birds in nests. Not only is this study investigating the efficacy of aerial adulticide applications, but it is giving insight into this previously unseen interaction that could play a major role in the amplification of West Nile vi- rus. So far Dr. Caillouet’s videos have shown that sub- stantial differences in mosquito biting pressure exist across bird species and geography. If you are interested in viewing a sample video, please contact him directly at [email protected].

Mosquito pool results from 741 pools have all been negative. Over the past two weeks, gravid trap counts have increased 2-3 fold. This increase closely follows the seasonal distribution of "quinks" in this area. Treat- ment of the roadside ditches for "quink" control has been with Bti/altosid/water, Bti granules, and CoCo Bear larvicide oil. Page 7 LeMaringouin

57th LMCA Annual Meeting New Orleans, LA

Hilton New Orleans Riverside Two Poydras Street New Orleans, LA 70130 504-584-3959 December 9th to December 11th

New Orleans was chosen as this year’s meeting place because it is the 50th Anniversary of the New Orleans Mos- quito Control Board formed in 1964. From the Chatham County (Georgia) Mosquito Control Commission, George, T. Carmichael was hired as the director of Orleans Parish Mosquito Control in May of 1964.

Reservations may be made 7 days a week 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. only. The room block is LMC and the deadline for reserva- tions in November 11, 2014. Room rates are: standard $109, rooms with a view $119, and executive level is $149 a night.

Within walking distance from the hotel the banquet will be held in the historic Gallier Hall on St. Charles Avenue. The building was originally designed to be the city hall of New Orleans by the noted architect, James Gallier, Sr.. Construction began in 1845, and the building was dedicated on 10 May 1853. Gallier Hall is a three-story marble structure fronted by two rows of fluted Ionic columns in the Neoclassical style. It is one of the most important structures built during the ante-bellum period of the city.

After its dedication in 1853, Gallier Hall remained the city hall for just over a century. Many important events during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the era of Louisiana governor Huey Long took place at Gallier Hall. Several important figures in Louisiana history lay in state in Gallier Hall, including Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard.

There are plenty of things to do in New Orleans and the best place to take a look is at the website http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/. If you have any questions your welcome to contact the New Orleans Mosquito Control office at 504-658-2400. Page 8 LeMaringouin

Things To Do - New Orleans New Orleans, LA

http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/ Page 9 LeMaringouin

Annual Meeting Registration Form

Page 10 LeMaringouin

Code of Ethics - for members of the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association

Mosquito control provides services which are increasingly important to the health, welfare and progress of society. Those employed in the mosquito control profession have the responsibility to render effective and professional ser- vice to humanity, in keeping with the high standards of ethical conduct. Therefore, in striving to advance and maintain the honor and dignity of the profession, the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association has established the following code to define the conduct and ethics due the profession. This code is binding on the membership of the LMCA.

LMCA members will use their knowledge and skill for the betterment of human welfare.

Members will, at all times, strive to maintain the public trust, and advance the standards and principles established by the LMCA.

Members will cooperate in the exchange of information and technology for the growth and progress of the mosquito control profession and the LMCA.

Members will not cause dishonor to the Association through their actions while representing the LMCA.

Members will promote solidarity, harmony and support among members and fellow workers. They will not under- mine, vilify, berate or otherwise intentionally injure the work, accomplishments, efforts or professional reputation of another.

Members will not conduct or in any way participate in a fallacious review of the work of a fellow worker or other member.

Members will help defend and morally support others against unjust claims and accusations. They will defend the mosquito control profession and report to the Board of Directors any member acting in a manner inconsistent with the policies and guidelines set forth by the LMCA.

Charges of any violation of this code on the part of any member will be reviewed by the LMCA Board of Directors and may, with a majority vote of the Board, result in, but not be limited to, censorship, loss of voting privileges within the Association, removal from committee membership and removal from membership in the Association.

Call For Papers - 2014 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA

DEADLINE FOR PAPER SUBMISSION - December 4th

Name of Author (s):

Presenter ( if different from above )

Presenter’s e-mail:

Affiliation and address:

Title of Paper:

Presenters are allotted 15 minutes (including questions). If you wish to have additional time for your presentation, please contact the program chair.

Presentation information for the meeting program may be submitted to:

Claudia Riegel New Orleans Mosquito Control Board 2100 Leon C Simon New Orleans, LA 70122 (504) 658-2400 (504) 658-2405 fax [email protected] Page 12 LeMaringouin

LSU Arbovirus Laboratory News

Laboratory testing for 2014 is in the “full swing”. The lab is receiving around 800 mos- quito pools per week for testing, which is the average amount for this time of the year. Beginning June 1st the lab began testing for St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLE), Easter Equine Encephalitis virus (EEE) as well as West Nile Virus (WNV). Currently, 68 positive pools for WNV has been reported compared to 16 positive pools in 2013. There was one positive pool for SLE in early June. The lab has received 636 sentinel chicken blood samples for testing since June 1st. Of the 636 samples tested, one was positive in June. Testing for EEE and WNV in horse is ongoing with no reported positives as of July 10. Twenty eight horses have been tested.

In April, the laboratory geared up for testing for Chikungunya virus (CKIKV). The protocols and procedures were obtained from CDC and testing for validation of the procedures have been completed. Upon the advice of CDC and the Louisiana Arboviral Working group, CHIKV testing will only be done when there are reported human cases. At this time we have tested 4 pools for CHIKV with no positives reported.

Alex Baudena, Tarra Harden, and Keith Strother Research Associates in Arbovirus testing laboratory are again this year working very hard to get accurate and timely results. Thanks to the group.

Page 13 LeMaringouin

Louisiana Mosquito Control Association

15483 Club Deluxe Rd. Hammond, LA 70403 Phone: 985-543-0454 Fax: 985-543-0457 [email protected]

Membership Today the LMCA is a support arm for these operations, those smaller city/community op- www.lmca.us erators and all others interested in mosquito control. We provide a platform for educa- tional resources and opportunities through publications, meetings and workshops, as well as guidance and technical direction for those in need. Association leadership works closely with state regulators to assure competency within operations and vigilance on legislative matters. Through this we are able to uphold our mission of enhancing the quality of life through the suppression of mosquitoes for all here in Louisiana. Membership Form

 E-Newsletters  IPM Training  Workshops  Educational Resources  Annual Meetings  Legislative/Regulatory Monitoring  Lower rates for meeting registration  Technical Manuals / Bulletins  Technical Advisory Services