The Office of Vector Surveillance and Control's primary goal is to preemptively detect the presence of vector-borne disease pathogens and prevent their transmission to humans and other hosts.
To accomplish this goal, the Program will employ the following strategies:
Education & Outreach
- • Improve public awareness of the need to report
and/or eliminate potential mosquito and other vector breeding sites.
- • Distribute posters, brochures and fact sheets
that provide basic mosquito biology to prevent mosquito bites.
- • Provide timely and accurate information regarding the various control activities.
Surveillance
- • Conduct larval mosquito surveillance during
the spring, summer and fall.
- • Conduct adult mosquito surveillance to detect
the presence of mosquito-borne pathogens as well as the effectiveness of
control measures.
- • Conduct mosquito surveillance throughout the
winter months to determine the extent of infection of over-wintering
pathogens.
- • Conduct tick surveillance to detect the presence of tick-borne pathogens.
Control
- • Standing water reports received via the
public, government officials and other agencies will be investigated and
remediated to reduce mosquito-breeding sites. Areas of standing water, which
cannot be immediately remediated, will be larvicided until a more permanent
solution can be found.
- • Larvicide will be applied to catch basins
throughout the city to eliminate mosquito-breeding sites.
- • Known mosquito-breeding locations will be
routinely inspected and treated.
- • When surveillance data indicate an imminent threat to public health, adulticide may be applied to reduce the spread of the mosquito-borne viruses from infected adult mosquitoes.
Research
- • Assess the efficacy of vector control measures
and strategies.
- • Further elucidate the transmission cycle of vector-borne diseases within the city.
