Agencies scaling back approach West Nile
Posted October 26, 2012 6:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s been a big year for mosquitoes in the region, but still no sign of the West Nile virus in the Lower Mainland.
Some government agencies are scaling back their approach to battling infected bugs.
Metro Vancouver just eliminated its regional prevention funding, after a number of years of coordinating efforts in the Lower Mainland.
Metro Vancouver’s Bill Morrell says the degree of response of past years is no longer needed.
“On the advice of the health authorities, which are telling us the risk at this point does not require any particular response.”
The BC Centre for Disease Control has also scaled back its work since this year.
For instance, Dr. Bonnie Henry says pre-emptive larviciding is no longer a priority.
“Even in those years where we have quite a lot of the vector mosquitoes, it seems that the risk to humans is quite low.”
That said, Dr. Henry says people should continue to take precautions against mosquito bites, and she notes West Nile is around elsewhere, so be careful while travelling.
