Deerfield and Greenfield should be commended for taking steps to protect their residents from dangerous diseases carried by mosquitoes and by doing so in a smart, economical way.
The state for years has monitored the threat of mosquito-borne illness like West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis, but western Massachusetts hasn’t historically been a priority for the program, because the mosquitoes here haven’t carried the viruses, as they did on Cape Cod and other eastern parts of the state.
But about six years ago, western Massachusetts began to see infection and activity, both among mosquitoes and humans. EEE is one of the most severe mosquito-transmitted diseases in the United States, with approximately 33 percent mortality and significant brain damage in most survivors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no specific treatment for it.
West Nile is not as serious. The CDC reports less than 1 percent of infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, neurological illness.
A few years ago, EEE was detected in Orange. And last year, at least two mosquitoes read positive for West Nile virus near the Deerfield-Greenfield line during an impromptu state trapping test.
But there are no formal state mosquito control districts in western Massachusetts overseen by the state Department of Agricultural Resources. Area towns could create such a state program locally — at a cost — but the state services come as a one-size-fits-all package.
So, Deerfield and Greenfield instead have collaborated to hire a private company to provide similar services, but through an a la carte approach — for a quarter the cost.
Opting to work with Vector Disease Control International of Arkansas allows the towns to buy just the services needed, whether that’s just simple monitoring for infected insects or active insect control.
In this case, Deerfield and Greenfield will pay $11,000 for trapping and testing a sample of mosquitoes, with notification and public education provided. Based on that information, the towns can assess the risk their mosquitoes pose and take appropriate action, such as applying larvacide to affected areas and reducing or even canceling outdoor activities, such as concerts and sports near dusk and dawn.
“I feel like we’re really bringing a much-needed service not only to Greenfield, but with Deerfield on board we’re covering a bigger area, and the surveillance that’s happening can give us some guidance and real data moving forward as to what our mosquitoes are doing,” Greenfield Heath Director Nicole Zabko explained recently.
The collaboration is smart for the two neighboring towns, and it probably keeps the costs down as well, while providing an increasingly important service to residents. State agriculture officials who run the eastern mosquito districts should consider a similar a la carte approach, as insect-borne virus threats like EEE and West Nile are likely to spread throughout the state as time goes on.
And as the potential threat grows with our warming climate, other towns might consider joining Greenfield and Deerfield, whether in a formal district (perhaps coordinated by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments) or more informally — or through a state program that we’d like to think can be made more flexible and responsive to local needs and budgets.