By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – Dead birds, infected horses and a recent rash of human cases of West Nile Virus have some local residents wondering if the St. John the Baptist Parish mosquito control plan is adequate to the task.

Residents of the McRiene community are the most recent to complain some areas of the parish are not sprayed enough. The residents believe only those living within the area sprayed regularly by trucks are satisfied with the service.

“The few times that it does come back here, the truck makes a loop,”a McRiene woman who did not want to be identified said. “In other words, it comes down McRiene, goes down Shadow Brook, comes up Marcia and goes out of the area, extremely quick I might add.”

Some residents also allege Mosquito Control have not been spraying ditches regularly. Ditches that hold water are a common breeding ground for the insects.

“Do I get a lot of mosquito complaints? Yeah, mosquitoes are bad in this area,” said Parish Councilman Jobe Boucvalt, District 5. “I’m not an expert in that field, but if there is a question about spraying I go talk to Mosquito Control. We want people to know we are addressing those concerns.”

Boucvalt and other council members have asked Mosquito Control for updates on what is being done to protect the parish from the virus, but so far the parish has not asked for any substantial change in the spraying policy.

“When we first learned about West Nile in the area we increased the percentage of the concentration of insecticides,” said Wayne Machado, general manager, Mosquito Control. “We are monitoring in a way we never have before. We are looking at bird blood and we are looking at sentinel flocks.”

Every week Mosquito Control catches live mosquitoes that are then processed and sent to labs for testing. Mosquito traps are also set up and moved throughout the parish to monitor vector populations. This helps identify what areas are most in need of spraying.

The Southern House Mosquito is most often identified with the spread of the West Nile Virus and is considered the most dangerous. Referred to as a “domestic mosquito,” the Southern House Mosquito breeds in ditches that collect water and in containers found around the house.

“It lives where we live and we give them a darn place to breed,” Machado said. “They really concentrate around homes.”

Asian Tiger Mosquitoes have also been known to transmit the virus in laboratory settings but have not yet been associated with the West Nile cases. The varieties of mosquitoes around swamp areas are not believed to be transmitters of the disease. So far populations in the parish are low and no cases have been found this year.

“We do not want to give people false security,” Machado said. “You cannot stop a virus from coming into the parish.”