Most people in Lindsay would agree they need to be protected from West Nile Virus, but the real question they have to answer is are they willing to pay for that protection.

Supervisor Allen Ishida gave a brief update on the options for Lindsay to move forward with forming a mosquito abatement district. Ishida said the City of Lindsay and City of Porterville will have to decide whether or not to place the formation of a special tax district on the ballot sometime in the near future.

ìYou are the only incorporated cities that are not covered by a district,î Ishida said. ìPorterville is already working on conducting a survey to find out if residents would vote in favor of something like that before they spend the money to put it up for a vote. Lindsay needs to decide if they want to do the same.î

Currently, Lindsay, Strathmore, Three Rivers, Porterville and Terra Bella are not covered by a mosquito abatement district. Lindsay and Strathmore are bordered by two abatement districts: Delta Vector Control District, covers the communities of Exeter, Farmersville, Woodlake, Visalia, Cutler-Orosi and Dinuba; and Tulare Mosquito Abatement, which covers primarily the city of Tulare.

ìFrom what I am hearing, Three Rivers may not be interested in doing anything because studies show that West Nile is not a problem in the foothills, only on the Valley floor,î Ishida said.

The committee is being formed by the Tulare County Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO), which oversees city boundaries and spheres of influence, such as city annexations or the formation of special districts. If approved by voters, the special tax district would fund a local abatement district.

ìThere is the possibility that something could pass in Porterville but not in Lindsay,î Ishida said. ìIf thatís the case, then I think Frazier Valley Road would be the dividing line.î

On May 25, 1915, the California State Legislature passed the Mosquito Abatement Act, giving local governments the power to obtain revenues and form special districts to protect the public from the hazards of mosquito bites and mosquito-borne diseases. That same year a small group of districts formed. Today 61 organized mosquito control agencies serve the residents of California.

The Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) represents 61 mosquito and vector control programs covering more than 32 million California residents inside 38,000 square miles. The stateís mosquito control program, widely regarded as one of most effective in the world, has greatly limited or eliminated the transmission of once-common mosquito-borne diseases, including malaria, according to the University of California Cooperative Extension.

California districts incorporate a three-pronged attack -surveillance, public education and mosquito control.

Surveillance determines the presence of the pathogen before human transmission becomes epidemic, and helps target control efforts.

Public education includes how to design, set up and manage large mosquito control programs. Among the logistics: financial, managerial, personnel and legal issues.

Mosquito control employs the latest physical, biological and chemical means to reduce mosquito populations near population centers. Tailored for a wide variety of landscapes, wetlands and population centers, the control methods include the use of mosquito fish; sensible irrigation practices and landscape alterations to reduce breeding sources; larvicides; and ground-based or aerial pesticide applications.

At the height of virus activity in 2005, only five people showed up to a meeting to gather public input on forming a district for Lindsay. Allen Ishida, District 1 Supervisors, said that the county tried to form an abatement district in southeastern Tulare County 20 years ago but the cities voted it down.

The mosquito-borne disease known as West Nile Virus is commonly found in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and was first detected in California in 2003. It is transmitted to humans and animals through a mosquito bite. Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds. The height of the virus in Tulare County came in 2005 when 60 people tested positive for the disease and more than 226 dead birds were found.

The most common way that the disease spreads to humans is though mosquito bites. Serious Symptoms in a Few People. Less than 1% (about 1 in 150) of people infected with WNV will develop severe illness. Severe symptoms can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. These symptoms may last several weeks, and neurological effects may be permanent and potentially fatal.

Up to 20% (about 1 in 5) of the people who become infected will display mild symptoms that generally last a few days but may last several weeks. The majority of people, about 80%, who are infected with virus show no symptoms at all.

The disease rarely affects animals besides birds. While some horses have died from the disease there is a vaccine available for horses. So far this year, no human cases of WNV have been identified in California, but the virus has been detected in mosquito pools, sentinel chickens and dead birds in eight other counties: Sutter, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Kern, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego.

In 2007, Tulare County had a total of 10 human cases, 38 dead birds, 27 sentinel chickens, two equine cases, and 23 mosquito samples that tested positive for WNV.

As of Nov. 12, there have been 51 dead birds, 20 sentinel chickens, one horse and 64 mosquito samples that tested positive for WNV. There have been two human cases of WNV in Tulare County this year. Both people lived in mosquito abatement districts.

ìItís a difficult situation because many of the people who have contracted West Nile Virus live in abatement districts,î Ishida added. ìSo it may be difficult to convince people that this is something they need.î

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