Epi Week #39 - 2014 General Statements

Arbovirus activity remained low this week, with only 135 pools submitted. Cool evening temperatures have made it unfeasible to do ULV spraying and have kept surveying activities down to a minimum.

During Epi Week 38, a single male Aedes albopictus was discovered in a gravid trap in Charlestown, a part of Boston (Suffolk County). Supplemental trapping in the area by both DPH and the Suffolk County Mosquito Control Project, using both gravid and BG Sentinel traps, did not turn up any additional specimens. Also during Epi Week 38, Central Middlesex Mosquito Control Project announced that DPH confirmed 3 egg collections of Aedes albopictus from ovitraps set up in mid-August in the town of Ayer. This is definitely a species we’ll be paying more attention to next season.

Weather

Epi Week 39 featured temperatures more typical of June or July than the latter half of September, with 1 or 2 days where highs were just a few degrees shy of 90’F. With a few exceptions (Ware, and parts of the Cape and Nantucket), last week continued the trend of being much drier than normal. Reservoirs are drying up (or are already dry) and unirrigated lawns have turned brown in many areas.