What is Lane County doing about West Nile Virus?

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Lane County Public Health’s West Nile Virus Response

• Lane County Public Health (LCPH) has in place a response system for reporting unusual diseases, clusters of disease or patterns of diseases, in addition to other conditions. The communicable disease team follows up on these cases.
  
  
• LCPH is taking reports of dead birds and submitting them for testing if there is evidence of a die-off in particular area. LCPH has also begun a mosquito surveillance program.
  
  
• LCPH is working with Oregon Health Services on plans to increase the chances of detecting West Nile Virus in the future. Surveillance will be a big part of these plans.
  
  
• Public Education is important and LCPH has been providing information to the public since 2002 via website, news conferences, newspaper insert (in conjunction with partners The Register-Guard, PacificSource, PeaceHealth, Funk/Levis & Associates, and IP-KOKE), and brochures available to the public in English and Spanish.
  
  
• Task force meetings have been held on the issue since 2002 and Public Health has developed a plan for addressing West Nile virus.  The plan is not fully funded. The purpose of this plan is to determine what are best practices in response to West Nile virus outbreaks.
  
  
• Since January 2003, Commissioners and Public Health have extended an ongoing invitation to any citizens who would like to meet in a group to discuss special districts for mosquito management and funding. To date, there have been no citizen groups indicating interest in meeting to discuss the topic. Some states have passed legislation enabling the formation of local mosquito control districts. To be successful, the districts must have the legal authority to perform mosquito surveillance and control activities, qualified staff, and a stable and adequate source of revenue.

Because the first case was found in the eastern United States in 1999, Oregon has been able to benefit from the experiences, studies and planning of other states. Graduated plans that contain documented, effective steps for management of West Nile Virus have been available for Lane County consideration. The steps include public education, source reduction, surveillance, and other mosquito control measures from using mosquito-eating fish to the application of larvicides and/or pesticides.