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HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Once a prepare dinner at Busch Gardens, Eric Long’s profession path took a really totally different flip a number of years in the past when he utilized to work for Hillsborough County.
“I saw there was a position called Spray Equipment Operator,” he mentioned. “I thought it had something to do with painting.”
He received the job and discovered he wouldn’t be portray. Instead, he’d be working with the county’s Mosquito Control division, which strives to scale back mosquito populations via remedy, prevention, and schooling.
Four years later, he’s now Hillsborough County’s Mosquito Management Program supervisor.
“Sometimes I go home, and I still can’t stop working,” he mentioned. “Especially right now — we’re right now in the peak of mosquito season right now, so it’s of pretty big importance to the county.”
According to Hillsborough County, varied species of mosquitoes are vectors of a number of illnesses, together with West Nile virus and equine encephalitis. Last week, the county issued a well being advisory after arbovirus dengue — also referred to as dengue fever — was detected in a number of circumstances related with worldwide journey. Dengue can be an sickness unfold by sure mosquitoes.
While Hillsborough County mentioned the danger of dengue stays low, Long and his group are rising their efforts to combat the chew.
Particularly, he hopes owners and renters will audit their yards for potential mosquito breeding websites. According to The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), mosquitoes that are classified as container breeders deposit their eggs in standing water in both pure or artifical vessels.
“They’re the types of mosquitoes that people breed normally in their own backyards and their yards, and they don’t know about it — just for little spotty things,” defined Long.
Inspecting a typical Hillsborough County yard, Long identified a few of the areas which might be frequent mosquito-breeding culprits.
Some of them are extra apparent: clogged gutters, tarps and grill covers, and buckets.
Many of the spots, nonetheless, are much less obvious.
Moving into the alleyway behind the house, Long noticed a discarded trash bag, a wrinkle of which collected a small pool of leftover rainwater. Beside it, the lid of a rusty paint can even held a small quantity.
“This right here, you could have thousands of mosquitoes breeding inside of this right here,” he mentioned. “What mosquitoes will typically do, they will lay their eggs in the water. Typically, they hatch, depending on the habitat they’re in.”
He additionally identified different much less obtrusive examples the place standing water was hiding: a tube used to launch fireworks which was saved behind a shed, kids’s toys, the rim of an overturned trash can, the waxy leaves of a potted bromeliad, and the house’s in-ground water meter field.
“All that water inside — ground zero for mosquitoes as well,” Long mentioned as he ladled a few of it out.
As mosquito-borne illnesses proceed to unfold, Long hopes individuals will likely be extra cognizant of their very own yards and houses.
His recommendation? Check for and dump standing water recurrently. Move any downside objects that may very well be higher saved elsewhere.
To Long, they’re easy steps that might make a giant distinction. Sometimes, the mosquitoes that plague a complete neighborhood are hatched from one supply.
“We’re probably not going to eliminate them, but we’re trying our best just to hold them back,” he mentioned.
More sources can be found from Hillsborough County at this link.
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