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9.11.2000 00:36
Spraying set
tonight for
West Nile
 The spraying will cover a two-mile radius from the site in North Kingstown where a dead blue jay infected with the virus was found Sept. 1.
By JENNIFER LEVITZ
Journal Staff Writer
Officials are scheduled to begin spraying pesticides tonight in parts of North Kingstown, East Greenwich and the Potowomut section of Warwick after tests showed that a blue jay found in Davisville on Sept. 1 tested postive for the West Nile virus.
The blue jay is the first sign that the mosquito-borne illness has turned up in North Kingstown, said the state Department of Environmental Management.
In all, five dead birds have tested positive so far this summer for the West Nile virus, which appears to have crossed into Rhode Island last month. The spraying of the pesticide Sumithrin is to begin, weather permitting, at 7 p.m.
Crews will not spray the pesticide near open water or field crops.
East Greenwich residents can get information about spraying in their town by calling 886-8665. Information numbers for North Kingstown and Warwick residents will be forthcoming, the DEM said.
Including the latest case, five dead birds have tested positive so far this summer for the West Nile virus. Also, a horse in Wakefield was put to death on Aug. 28 after it contracted the virus -- the first sign that mammal-biting mosquitoes in Rhode Island are carrying it.
Spraying in a two-mile radius after each finding, crews have so far covered sections of Cranston, Warwick, East Providence, Westerly, Middletown, Newport, South Kingstown, Narragansett, and Coventry.
So far, no humans have contracted the virus in Rhode Island. While most people who do get it experience flu-like symptoms and fully recover, the virus can lead to a brain inflammation called encephalitis. The virus is fatal to humans in 3 to 15 percent of cases, most involving the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
The state has tested slightly more than 100 birds for the disease since May. All but five have tested negative, the DEM said.
Eastern equine encephalitis, a less common but more deadly virus, killed a bird in North Providence last month and two emus in Rehoboth last week. The EEE virus is almost always found in mosquitoes that don't bite humans.
The number of infections in Rhode Island is expected to diminish with the cooler weather, which causes mosquito populations to dwindle.
The DEM continues to urge residents to take personal precautions against mosquito bites, and to prevent mosquito breeding grounds -- such as standing pools of water -- around their homes.
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