SAN JOSE — A Berryessa neighborhood is next up for mosquito fogging, after vector control officials tested the area following the discovery of some dead birds and found West Nile virus active in the sampled mosquito population.
The spraying will start around 11 p.m. Friday and last for several hours, weather permitting. The northeast San Jose area is roughly bordered by Landess Avenue on the north, Interstate 680 on the west, Old Piedmont Road and the foothills on the east and Berryessa Road to the south. A map of the area can be viewed online at http://goo.gl/maps/N84Y3.
Russ Parman, acting manager of the Santa Clara County Vector Control District, said we are entering high season for West Nile. He said about a dozen birds have now been found with the virus throughout Santa Clara County, and mosquito traps found the infected insects near where two were found in Berryessa last week.
“The virus is active, it’s been nice and warm, and this is what we expect to see in the peak season,” he said, adding that he believes the area targeted is the farthest to the north and east that they have fogged.
“Things are clustering up in the Berryessa area,” he said. “We know that there is a background level of West Nile throughout the county, and it’s a very low level, but these amplifications come up and our current rate could be as high as one in 50 mosquitoes infected.”
The first fogging of the year took place on July 11 in South San Jose.
Between 2003 and 2012, there have been 3,625 cases of West Nile virus in a human, with 130 resulting deaths. There were 479 cases and 20 fatalities in 2012 and so far this year only a single case in Sacramento, where a man died after contracting the virus but because of other underlying health conditions it is not known if it was due to the virus.
Information packets will be sent out in the area to be fogged starting Wednesday, and vector control and public health officials will be available to answer questions from the public from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday at 408-918-3452 or 800-314-2427.
Contact Eric Kurhi at 408-920-5852. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.
