Typical mosquito habitat in the Toad Harbor/Big Bay area
/ photo from Oswego County
Full scale mosquito surveillance is underway in Oswego County with good results for the community, so far.
The Health Department says so far this season, there is no Eastern Equine Encephalitis, or EEE, present in the county. Tests have been conducted on samples collected in the Toad Harbor and Big Bay swamp area since the week of May 28th.
Acting Public Health Director Inga Back says, "The negative result for the EEE virus is normal this early in the season. The EEE virus builds over time."
Oswego County started a new approach to fighting mosquito-borne illnesses this season. It's called the "mark, release, recapture" project, and is intended to find "ground zero" for where the EEE virus may originate. The program involves capturing mosquitoes, marking them with a fluorescent powder, releasing them, and then tracing their whereabouts with mosquito traps and blacklights.
Oswego County has stepped up its efforts to combat this disease following the death last year of 4-year-old Maggie Sue Glenister Wilcox, of New Haven. She died last August after being bitten by an infected mosquito.
