Florence taking steps to squash potential Zika virus outbreak

The National Center for Disease Control places South Carolina in a zone likely to see an influx of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, and within that projected area, Florence County is listed at a moderate risk level for susceptibility to the disease.

The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, or red eyes. The illness is usually mild, with symptoms lasting for several days to a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

People infected usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.

The more prevalent concern, however, exists among pregnant women who have contracted the virus and later gave birth to a child with the disease, which causes children to be born with small heads or hardened spots on the brains.

Although no cases have been reported in the Palmetto State, the city and county of Florence are actively trying to squash any mosquito woes before they arise.

Florence County Administrator K.G. “Rusty” Smith Jr. said they’re “locked and loaded” when it comes to outbreak prevention

“We’ve put larvicide in about 11,000 different spots in the county and all of our mosquito sprayer trucks have been calibrated and certified by inspectors and are ready to go,” he said.

The city of Florence has also recognized the threat of Zika and is preparing regular sprayer truck runs, along with distribution of larvicide briquettes for homeowners.

“It’s not just the storm drain ponds where mosquitoes are breeding – it’s water that collects in tires, in bottles, in buckets in people’s backyards, in ditches that don’t drain very well,” said Florence City Manager Drew Griffin. “We think it’s a good opportunity to provide larvacide briquettes to home owners that can be thrown in a yard or a ditch to ease some of that concern.”

The disease is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is similar to most other types of mosquitoes found in the Pee Dee.

The county has a plan to trap mosquitoes and send samples to the Department of Health and Environmental Control for identification.

“We’ve got two different kinds of traps – light traps and gravity traps-- throughout the county to identify the type of species we have and to determine whether any of them are capable of spreading diseases like Zika,” Smith said. “We have not recognized any of that in Florence County but we’re on top of it.”

Mosquito fog trucks are commonplace during the summer months but officials say that since mosquitoes can reproduce in less than an inch of standing water–common in many of the swamp areas in southern Florence County and patches near Jefferies Creek – fogger trucks aren’t always reliable.

“The fog only goes about 100 feet, which works in most subdivisions where the properties are back to back,” Griffin said. “If you’re going down a street with residential areas up front and a swampy area behind, you’re not impacting that swamp. The fogger only works in highly condensed areas.”

Both city and county officials said there’s no way to eradicate the mosquito population in Florence and completely nullify any Zika threat, but reducing the amount of standing water near your home is a good start to prevention.

This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Florence taking steps to squash potential Zika virus outbreak."