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8.16.2000 00:32
Crews spray
to control
spread of
West Nile
 Four trucks with foggers cover a two-mile radius that includes sections of Warwick and Cranston.
Mosquito bite tips
Journal Staff Writer
WARWICK
-- Public works crews in Warwick and Cranston sprayed for mosquitoes last night in an effort to suppress the West Nile virus, detected last week in the carcass of a crow that died on Pine Street in Warwick.
Four trucks equipped with insecticide foggers treated 102 miles of city streets last night, about 70 percent of that distance in Warwick. The two fleets operated by Warwick had police cars in front with flashing lights to warn residents. The two Cranston crews were preceded by Department of Public Works trucks with flashing lights.
The Warwick police cars also used public address systems to announce the spraying in neighborhoods. The drivers of the Cranston DPW trucks occasionally blew airhorns.
The state Department of Environmental Management and the state Department of Health urged Warwick and Cranston residents to take "common-sense measures" to avoid exposure to the insecticide, called Sumithrin. They urged residents to stay inside, keep their pets indoors, and keep windows closed and air conditioners turned off for about 15 minutes after their street is sprayed.
They advised anyone who came in contact with the chemical fog to wash their skin and clothing.
At 7 p.m., the trucks lined up at four different locations to start. One of those spots was 292 Pine St., where Marion Cragan had reported the infected crow to the DEM last week.
The spray wafted over houses in white clouds and had a pungent smell. The trucks avoided streets that bordered bodies of water, such as Warwick Pond, because the spray is toxic to aquatic life. It is also toxic to bees.
Some people seemed to ignore the spraying altogether, walking out to their cars or standing in the street while the trucks passed through the neighborhood. But other residents complained that they weren't given enough warning before the spraying reached their neighborhood.
One man said he was out walking his dog on Cross Street, in Warwick, when the truck passed him, while another woman who lives on Proctor Avenue said she had her door open as the spray reached her home. Neither of those spray trucks were preceded by police cars.
Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian said he felt the two cities did their best in getting the word out about the spraying. Police cars preceding all fleets, rather than just two, probably would have been beneficial, he said.
"Anytime you're going to have that many people affected, there's always going to be people that [the warnings] won't reach," Avedisian said.
The one-day spraying program was recommended Monday by the DEM and approved by Avedisian and Mayor John O'Leary, of Cranston.
The West Nile virus has been confirmed in dead birds in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Birds contract the disease when bitten by infected mosquitoes and later spread the virus to mosquitoes that draw blood from them.
The virus first appeared in the United States last summer. New York health authorities reported 69 cases, 7 of them fatal.
So far this summer, there have been three confirmed cases, all in New York. None have been fatal.
DEM officials acknowledged yesterday that the dead crow found in Warwick could have contracted the disease outside the area targeted for spraying. But they said they were following a protocol recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in using the spot where the crow died as a starting point and covering a 2-mile radius from there.
DEM Associate Director Malcolm J. Grant said the protocol assumes that a sick bird does not travel far in its last days and probably spreads the disease locally before dying.
The spray area extended roughly from T.F. Green Airport north to Rolfe Square in Cranston, and from Governor Francis Farms in Warwick west to the Meshanticut section of Cranston.
Mosquitoes are most likely to be killed if they fly through the insecticide fog or have alighted on the ground or some other surface while the chemical droplets are settling out of the air.
In wet weather, officials said, mosquitoes tend to shelter themselves under leaves or in other places that the insecticide is not likely to reach.
DEM officials said the four trucks in use last night sprayed the chemical at the rate of about 12.4 ounces per minute. They expected to go through the 120 gallons that the state provided by about midnight.
The crews were instructed to spray all areas except waterways and farm fields.
Since June, both cities have been treating catch basins and storm drains with pesticides that kill mosquito larvae. In the weeks to come, both cities plan to apply another round of larvicide in places where mosquitoes are known to breed, and the state plans to continue setting out mosquito traps.
If there is evidence in weeks to come that last night's spraying for adult mosquitoes did not eradicate the virus in Rhode Island, the state's response plan calls for a broader application of pesticides by aircraft.
Though there is no evidence of humans being infected with the virus in Rhode Island, Avedisian said he decided to follow the DEM's recommendation and approve ground-spraying in Warwick.
"They made it clear that the decision to spray was solely a city decision," he said, but "it didn't make much sense to go against the recommendation. They obviously are the experts. Once they found the crow, all of the indications were that we should attempt to eradicate the virus as quickly as possible."
According to the EPA, the pesticide is generally considered of low toxicity to mammals, but can harm the human nervous system in high doses. The DEM said the fogging in Warwick and Cranston was "at dosage levels far below human health thresholds," and that the truck drivers involved needed to take no special precautions other than keeping their windows rolled up.
Sumithrin, contained in some pet shampoos and home insecticide foggers, kills mosquitoes on contact by attacking nerve function.
DEM officials said the Sumithrin will break down quickly in sunlight. According to the EPA, it loses half its potency in soil in about nine days, and half its potency in water in about 9 to 14 hours.
-- With staff reports by Michael Smith
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