Aerial Spraying Against Mosquitoes Starts Wednesday

Aerial spraying to reduce the number of mosquitoes testing positive for West Nile virus is scheduled to begin tonight in parts of Sacramento County. 

Luz Maria Robles is with the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District. She says planes will be spraying an insecticide over nearly 15,000 acres in the Arden-Arcade area, Carmichael and locations north of the American River.

"Because many of the birds and mosquito samples in that area have tested positive,” says Robles. “So we need to take immediate action in order to reduce the risk of human infection and then of course reduce the overall abundance of those infected mosquitoes."

Robles says the district recently found many neglected pools in the Arden-Arcade and Carmichael areas. And she says one neglected pool can produce about a million mosquitoes. 

She says starting around dusk the planes will be spraying.

"And it comes down from the airplane in a very fine mist,” says Robles. “There's no residue so by the next day it breaks down in sunlight. The material that we're using is called Trumpet EC. It only affects mosquitoes and insects smaller than mosquitoes."

So far this year, 47 mosquito samples and 74 dead birds have tested positive for West Nile virus in Sacramento County.

"At this time last year we had significantly less positive mosquito samples,” says Robles.