Homeowners urged to take precautions against mosquitoes.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

Sometime this summer, public health experts predict, a migratory bird will fly into Oregon carrying the West Nile virus. A mosquito will sting the bird, pick up a snout full of virus-laden blood, then buzz off to look for its next meal, perhaps from a nice meaty human arm.

That's how the virus spread from Queens, N.Y., to 44 states in just four years. And that's how it's expected to complete its remarkable cross-country march into Oregon and three other so-far-unaffected states in the West this summer.

With that in mind, Eugene and Lane County officials gathered Wednesday to urge homeowners to take a few simple steps to make their yards as inhospitable to mosquitoes as possible.

Mosquitoes need stagnant water to breed. So homeowners should take a few minutes to walk around their yards and eliminate sources of standing water.

Pollyanna Lind led a tour of her back yard in the River Road neighborhood, demonstrating what she has done to get rid of standing water.

Wheelbarrows, watering cans, bird baths, saucers under flower pots, old tires, clogged gutters, plastic tarps: All are potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes, said Lind, clean water campaign coordinator for the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides.

City and county public works officials have taken similar steps on a larger scale to eliminate breeding grounds, said Trevor Taylor, who coordinates natural resource operations for the Eugene Parks & Open Space Division.

Last year, 4,156 human cases of West Nile virus were reported in the United States, and 284 people died from the disease.

The virus poses little health risk for healthy adults, and the chances of getting infected are small. Only one in five adults who are infected will feel any symptoms, but the disease causes serious illness in one out of every 150 who are infected.

City workers have systematically examined city-owned property, from City Hall to parklands, public works yards to open waterways, Taylor said.

The city also has educated staff members on how to protect themselves from mosquito bites and how to identify breeding grounds. Employees have been told to keep an eye out for dead birds that may have been killed by the virus.

The city has adopted an integrated pest management plan that spells out what steps they'll take to control mosquitoes. City staff members may resort to larvicides, which kill mosquitoes before they hatch, but are hoping to avoid using pesticide sprays to eradicate adult mosquitoes, Taylor said.

Public health and public works officials have gotten a handful of calls from people who were thinking of using sprays or other chemical methods to combat mosquitoes. But that's not a good idea because they can harm the environment, the officials said.

Spraying to kill adult mosquitoes also kills mosquito predators and can be harmful to humans, Taylor said.

"Spraying is the least effective way of controlling mosquitoes," said Tamara Wilhite of Lane County Public Health. "The most effective way is to keep larvae from hatching."

At Lane Community College, crews have installed two bug zappers near the campus sewage lagoons to control mosquito and gnat populations, said groundskeeper Don Conklin.

While West Nile wasn't the sole reason for installing the zappers, "that's kind of in the back of everybody's mind," Conklin said.

WEST NILE VIRUS

Public health officials urge people to eliminate water sources used by mosquitoes to breed:

Make sure watering cans are completely empty after watering.

Turn wheelbarrows upside down when not in use.

Recycle old tires, or if they're used as a tree swing, punch holes in the bottom so water can drain.

Use pumps to keep water circulating in bird baths and ponds.

Avoid using saucers under flower pots for collecting excess water.

Keep water from collecting on top of swimming pool covers.

Drill holes in the bottom of garbage cans that are left outside.

Use sand to fill holes in the crotches of trees that collect water.

Clean out gutters regularly, or install screens that keep them from getting clogged.