To assist jurisdictions impacted by Hurricanes Ian and Fiona, NACCHO was able to launch a special Hurricane Crisis cohort of the Vector Control Collaborative (NACCHO’s long running mentorship program in vector control) in 2024. The following story is from this cohort’s mentor, Anastasia Mosquito Control District. To see more details about the VCC programs in 2024, click here.

Florida’s Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD), through the NACCHO Vector Control Collaborative program, worked with the Pender County Health Department (PCHD) and Beaufort County Mosquito Control (BCMC) to enhance their current mosquito control capacities through training on areas such as mosquito identification, insecticide resistance monitoring, training on delivering and education and outreach program, development of electronic data and inventory reporting spreadsheets, development of a disaster preparedness document, and surveillance and control recommendations.

About the Mentees

PCHD has two full time management staff with two part-time field technicians with additional seasonal positions during peak mosquito activity months. BCMC has two full time management staff with full-time field technicians, field biologist, and an aviation unit with a full time and part time pilot and mechanic. Both program’s staff wear many hats including a focus on mosquito prevention and control and cover the entire county. Both programs are well developed with strong leaders.

Through NACCHO’s Vector Control Collaborative program, PCHD and BCMC traveled to AMCD for our 19th Annual Arbovirus Workshop. PCHD management team learned from the other programs that presented, and identified short-term and long-term goals to discuss with their health department director for improvement of their current mosquito control program.

The short-term goals identified were:

• Adding more traps to increase to 10 county-wide,

• Partnering with local universities,

• Adding GPS program into adulticide trucks,

• Partnering with organizations such as Beacons Mosquito Working Group, AMCA,

• Participating in more trainings and conferences,

• Conducting more education events within schools to talk about mosquito control, and

• Accepting interns in the summer to help sort/count/ID mosquitoes, etc.

The long-term goals identified were:

• Develop in-house mosquito testing,

• Develop a drone program (or helicopter) for larviciding,

• Hire full time technicians for spot spraying and larviciding,

• Partner with industries (e.g. Target) to evaluate new products and monitor resistance,

• Partner with local military base,

• Look into different grants available to improve operations, and

• Add space for a dedicated mosquito ID and resistance testing lab.

BCMC management team participated in a hands-on training on insecticide resistance (IR) and participated in an education event in AMCD’s Disease Vector Education Center. AMCD shared documentation on our IR program including data sheets, SOPs, and other resources.

Site visits

In addition, AMCD traveled for a site visit to PCHD and BCMC in May of 2024. The AMCD team included the Ground Operations Manager, Assistant Director, and Field Biologist.

During the team’s visit with PCHD, we visited their surveillance sites, inspected their chemical room, and provided hands-on training on mosquito identification. The major takeaways were:

• The potential to expand trapping (Only two trap sites as two BGs are broken),

• The development of thresholds and justification for adulticiding,

• The importance of and how to establish chemical inventory for reporting purposes,

• The need to have PPE placed in a central safe location away from pesticides,

• The need for training on pesticide label reading,

• The development of training on PPE,

• The development of documentation that their employees understand the label and are responsible for wearing proper PPE,

• The need for training on Mosquito ID,

• The development of fog routes within the county, and

• To move away from routine fogging.

From the PCMC site visit, AMCD shared the following information: PPE training presentations and recording logs, label training presentations and recording logs, electronic mosquito ID sheets, electronic inventory sheets, public outreach educational material, and hazardous waste training and recording logs.

During the team’s visit with BCMC, we visited their surveillance sites, inspected their chemical room, and worked with BCMC to get their thermal fogger up and running. The major takeaways were:

• The importance of, and how to establish, chemical inventory for reporting purposes.

• Training on PPE and developing a document for their employees stating they understand the label is the law and that employees are responsible for wearing proper PPE.

• Possible decreasing the number of surveillance sites and potentially removing the storm drain trapping.

• Thermal fogging training and how to fix their current thermal fogger.

From the BCMC site visit, AMCD shared the following information: PPE training presentations and recording logs, label training presentations and recording logs, electronic mosquito ID sheets, electronic inventory sheets, public outreach educational material, and hazardous waste training and recording logs.

Conclusion

Overall, both programs developed an integrated approach to mosquito control with limited financial and personnel resources. Both programs are active within their community providing education and outreach. PCMC has a strong larvicide program and are working to enhance their surveillance program to provide more detailed justification for their adulticide program. BCMC has a strong surveillance program and are working to enhance their data analysis to provide more detailed justification for their adulticide program.