Week 10: Ovi Traps and West Nile Virus

 West Nile Virus Cases

This week, two towns on my route had mosquitos that tested positive for West Nile Virus. That meant I went back to the sites that tested positive and set another round of traps. The sprayers also visited the site in an effort to suppress the virus. It worked on one of the sites, (the site in Dracut did not test positive a second time) but the site in Marlborough tested positive for WNV again. This is unfortunate, since that trap site is very close to a public park. 

Ovi Traps

An Ovi trap in Lowell, MA

This Friday, I set the weekly Ovi traps for the first time. These are a way to see the eggs that mosquitos lay in a certain area. They work by setting up 5 cups of Gravid water lined with paper that the eggs will stick to. This makes it simple to count them after leaving the trap set up for a week. I set 5 Ovi traps around a tire recycling facility in Ayer, MA, as many mosquitos (including the invasive Aedes Albopictus) breed in tires that are left in the open. I will see the results of this trap in a week!