That innocuous looking mosquito can do a fair bit of damage to the human body. The raining season, brings in its wake, hordes of mosquitoes, which thrive on puddles of water.
Needless to say, there is a heightened chance of a mosquito bites in this season. Getting bitten by a virus infected one entails enduring that sickness for at least 4-5 days. In case a person contracts dengue, the misery lasts much longer.
Nip the evil in the bud
The government has initiated numerous measures, as it does every year, to curtail the mosquito population. Most people use a mosquito repellent at home to thwart the threat of the mosquito bite. Ensuring that there is no standing water is a practice that many people adopt.
However, there is a lesson to be learnt for all concerned from the mosquito control company Clarke. The lesson pertains to aim of mosquito control, or call is mosquito eradication.
Equipped with substances that kill mosquitoes, the Clarke team heads straight to storm drains; places where mosquitoes reportedly originate from. Nip the evil in the bud.
“One of the most prolific areas for West Nile Virus or carriers of West Nile are found in storm drains or catch basins. It’s kind of the unknown and it was one of the big factors of West Nile emergence, particularly in the northern sections where you have thousands and thousands of basins,” says George Balis, a regional manager at Clarke.
The Modus Operandi
The team cycles its way to the requisite destination and offloads the mosquito killer in the drains. Balis claims that using a cycle instead of the truck has increased their efficiency by 25 percent.
“It’s OMRI listed – organic material review institute listed – so this product can be put into the water, it kills mosquitos as they develop and it doesn’t affect the other wildlife that’s in there. It wouldn’t affect people, pets or other parts of the environment,” said Balis of the insecticide used to kill mosquitoes.
A computer system on the bile tracks the areas that have been covered. The results of the exercise have been astounding.
“In this area here, Deerfield, we have had zero human cases of West Nile Virus since the emergence in 1999. We work with over 150 communities in treating their storm drains. Each person that is out usually treats about 600 basins in a day,” reveals a proud Balis.
