ZIKA VIRUS WARNING​

Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon. Eighty percent of patients infected with Zika are asymptomatic, according to the CDC. Those people who do present symptoms may experience fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis. Severe cases may require hospitalization, but no deaths have been linked directly to Zika. Most patients who exhibit symptoms do so for several days to a week.

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Mosquitoes are equipped with a battery of sensors designed to track their prey, including:

  • Chemical sensors – mosquitoes can sense carbon dioxide and lactic acid up to 100 feet (36 meters) away. Mammals and birds gives off these gases as part of their normal breathing. Certain chemicals in sweat also seem to attract mosquitoes, (people who don’t sweat much don’t get nearly as many mosquito bites).
  • Visual sensors – if you are wearing clothing that contrasts with the background, and especially if you move while wearing that clothing, mosquitoes can see you and zero in on you. The mosquito bets that anything moving is “alive”, and therefore full of blood.
  • Heat sensors – Mosquitoes can detect heat. They can find warm-blooded mammals and birds very easily once they get close enough.

 

STEP ONE: INSPECTION
Inspect a property for any local area or object that is likely to hold water for more than four days. Rain barrels, old tires, bird baths, buckets, cans, toys, bottles, tree holes, cisterns and clogged gutters are examples of such type areas. Some species will place their eggs in areas that are likely to get flooded periodically like natural depressions, seasonal wetlands, drainage ditches and other low lying areas.

STEP TWO: REDUCING BREEDING SITES
Wherever possible, breeding sites should be eliminated. Active will help identify and in some cases help eliminate breeding sites. Homeowners can clean gutters, eliminate objects that hold water, and create drainage in areas that collect standing water wherever possible.

STEP THREE: LARVAL CONTROL
Your Active technician will then selectively place products that interfere with the development of the aquatic life stages of the mosquito. These products are placed in areas that are either holding water or will likely hold water after a rain. They are not harmful to fish, waterfowl, pets or humans when used according to label directions. One manufacturer’s rep has been putting the larvicide in his dog’s water bowl for years with absolutely no harm to the animal.

STEP FOUR: ADULT MOSQUITO CONTROL
Mosquitoes prefer to rest in protected sites during the day. Yards with lots of trees, shrubs and dense vegetation or properties adjoining such areas, can have nightmarish problems. To further reduce intolerable levels of biting mosquitoes, a residual.