It’s that time again: Allentown to spray for West Nile-infected mosquitoes
Written by Victoria Scialfa on August 3, 2021
It’s that time again: Allentown to spray for West Nile-infected mosquitoes
By Mariella Miller
August 3, 2021
The city of Allentown will spray for West Nile-infected mosquitoes 7:30-9:30 p.m. Aug. 4 throughout several downtown neighborhoods.
Rain date is Aug. 5.
The truck-mounted spraying device will be guided by a lead vehicle with a flashing light and will focus on:
- Trexler Park
- Sumner Avenue
- The first ward from Front Street to American Parkway
- Tilghman to Linden streets
- Basin Street
- Mountainville Shopping Center
- Auburn Street
- Lehigh Street to Mill Street
- Fairview Cemetery
- Union-West End Cemetery ending at the Allentown Fairgrounds.
People are advised to stay back 100 feet from the spraying truck.
However, the spray is not toxic to people the way the Lehigh Conservation District is applying it, said Louise Bugbee, coordinator of vector borne disease control program for the agency, which manages the mosquito mitigation program for Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the program monitors how many mosquitoes test positive for West Nile.
“In Allentown, it has been going up to the point where it’s too high for comfort,” Bugbee said.
Infected mosquitoes transmit the West Nile virus. These mosquitoes usually bite and infect wild birds, the primary host of the virus, but can also infect horses and other mammals, including humans.
It’s all about the science and timing, Bugbee said. Human cases of West Nile disease start to appear in late summer.
And the particular breed of mosquito that carries it is out and flying around at dusk, she said. They breed mostly in clogged gutters, tire piles, garbage cans and any other vessel that can hold standing water.
Bugbee recommends removing any such debris from your yard.
For more information, visit the state DEP’s vector management site.
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