Delaware gets $813,00 to battle Zika virus

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Dragonfly eating mosquito. stavale8099 / Flickr

stavale8099 via Foter.com / CC BY-ND

 

 

U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) joined Delaware Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary David Small to announce $813,000 in federal funding to help Delaware’s efforts to prevent and respond to the Zika virus.

The effort will include spraying for a species of mosquito that can carry the disease.

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Zika, a generally mild illness, has been linked to serious birth defects in Brazil and other countries and is most often spread by mosquitoes, including a species found in Delaware.

Much of the funding came from an Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grant for $1.7 million, a grant the state receives annually from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This year’s ELC’s grant of $543,000 is to be used for fighting Zika and West Nile Virus. The second grant, also from CDC and called the Public Health Emergency Preparedness grant, targets Zika specifically and provides $270,000.

The grants will fund additional Zika education, outreach and advertising, data tracking, lab testing expenses, disease surveillance, planning, personnel, and preparedness. Funding will also be used to conduct Zika workshops and a table-top exercise, and help provide Zika kits for pregnant women, and their related needs. The ELC grant will help fund a new epidemiologist for DPH and a part-time physician to examine infants.

About $166,000 of the grant funding announced will assist DNREC’s mosquito control and surveillance efforts.

While this funding will go toward Zika and other mosquito-related research, funding for additional Zika research – including development of a vaccine – public education, outreach, and wider contraception availability is needed, a release stated.

“The Division of Public Health has worked on the Zika issue for months, and we are ready, we are prepared,” said Rattay. “Following guidance by the CDC, DPH has organized a Zika Action Team comprised of individuals with expertise in infectious disease, epidemiology, maternal and child health, lab testing, communications, mosquito control and emergency preparedness. The new funding will help DPH continue to implement the action team’s plan.”

DNREC’s share of grant funding “will greatly enhance our efforts to raise awareness among Delawareans about how they can reduce mosquito populations around their homes, boost our response capability to more effectively implement localized controls and improve our ability to monitor mosquito populations around the state,” said Small. “We greatly appreciate the current and past efforts of Senator Carper and our congressional delegation to support programs to protect public health and the environment.”

Following the funding announcement, DNREC Mosquito Control Administrator Dr. Bill Meredith and Program Manager Tom Moran demonstrated actions homeowners can take to reduce habitat at business and residential properties.

The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), widely found throughout Delaware carries West Nile virus and can transmit Zika, too. This species lays its eggs around the home where standing water can accumulate – clogged rain gutters, abandoned swimming pools and most importantly, any container that can hold water, such as flower pot liners, cans, scrap tires, wheelbarrows and uncovered trash cans.

Due to this species’ habitats and behaviors, controlling the ATM solely with insecticides has been challenging.

Delaware Public Health and DNREC both provide fact sheets on the Zika Virus, as found here.

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