Will County purchases pesticide to combat West Nile
August 16, 2012 8:08PM
Updated: September 18, 2012 6:19AM
JOLIET — The Will County Board of Health has authorized the purchase of 36 cases of Altosid Mosquito Larvicide used in the ongoing fight against West Nile virus.
The authorization came Wednesday during a regularly scheduled Board of Health monthly business meeting.
It marks the Will County Health Department’s second major mosquito larvicide initiative of 2012.
Will County Environmental Health supervised the distribution of 45 cases of larvicide to 14 area units of government in April. The health department allocated nearly $24,000 to cover the cost of Wednesday’s authorization.
Altosid Mosquito Larvicide helps in the fight against West Nile by disrupting the normal growth pattern of immature mosquitoes in water.
It prevents them from becoming breeding, biting adults.
The virus continues to be a public health priority across Illinois and throughout most of the U.S.
There have been 12 human infections reported so far in Illinois, all of them from Chicagoland.
The Lake County Health Department announced a confirmed case of human infection from Buffalo Grove.
There have been 10 human cases confirmed from Cook County and one case from DuPage County.
While no cases have been confirmed from Will County, evidence of widespread West Nile activity continues to surface.
A crow collected from Frankfort was confirmed virus-positive Aug. 13.
Three Will County birds and 46 mosquito batches have tested positive for the virus.
The local totals include 19 virus-positive mosquito batches confirmed since Aug. 1. There were only 24 virus-positive mosquito batches in Will County during all of 2011.
