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Agency readies mosquito and tick surveillance, warns of possible targeted treatments for Eastern equine encephalitis
Summary
State entomology and pesticide staff told the Senate Agriculture Committee they expanded tick and mosquito surveillance and are preparing for possible targeted mosquito treatments if Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) indicators exceed public-health thresholds.
Steve (last name not specified), director of the division overseeing public health and agricultural resource management, briefed the committee on the agency’s pesticide and vector programs, including rodenticide sales, tick surveillance and mosquito monitoring.
“We have a 100 plus sites that we put traps out, check them on a regular basis, collect mosquitoes, identify them to species,” he said, describing the agency’s mosquito surveillance network and its partnerships with the Department of Health and the CDC for laboratory testing.
Steve said 2024 produced a record number of mosquitoes testing positive for Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and that the state recorded two human cases, including one death, and a fatality in a horse. He warned the committee that the EEE virus cycles in bird and swamp-associated mosquito populations and that the agency was preparing for a potentially higher number of infected mosquitoes in the coming season.
“If the numbers of mosquitoes carrying the disease are high enough, then the population is high enough. We may have to do some treatment. We may have to do an aerial treatment in certain parts of the state to knock population down,” he said, adding that the Department of Health would make the decision to authorize such treatments and that the agency has standing contracts with specialized aerial and ground applicators.
Steve described how mosquito control uses an ultra-low-volume aerial application — an aircraft flying at roughly 300 feet that applies insecticide at extremely low rates (fractions of an ounce per acre) timed for mosquito flight activity — and stressed that the agency’s permitting and monitoring aim to minimize effects on pollinators and the public.
He also described recent state action on rodenticides, saying the agency worked to educate sellers and consumers and to require consumer products that remain on shelves to be used inside bait boxes to limit secondary toxicity to predators.
Ending
Agency staff asked the committee to expect more detailed briefings on vector surveillance, the criteria for triggering population control treatments, and education about safe pesticide handling and storage.
