1984-07-26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 1 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING July 26, 1984 A scheduled special meeting of the Board of Health was held Thursday, July 26, 1984 at 8:00 p.m. in Room G-1 of the Town Office Building. Members present were: James Lambie, Chairman; Linda Roemer, Ph.D., Donald A. Goldmann, M.D., George A. Smith, Jr., R.S., Director of Public Health and Mr. David Henley, Superintendent of the East Middlesex Mosquito Control Project. The meeting was held to discuss the current mosquito situation and the direction in which our program should be headed now that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has issued a mosquito/encephalitis warning. The warning was issued on July 25, 1984 by Health Commissioner Bailus Walker. Mr. Smith indicated that the cable T.V. messages have been issued every week to ten days and that the hot line was working. Brochures are available at all locations. David Henley reviewed the situation by reviewing liason activities between his project and the State Health Department. The state detected Highland "J" virus three weeks ago, however, last week a large increase in the amount of Highland "J" virus was noted. This concentration of virus is considered to be above normal. The State Department of Public Health is concerned because although Highland "J" is considered benign with respect to humans it is believed that this virus is an effective precursor to EEE. EEE begins to appear 2-3 weeks after Highland "J" isolates are determined. There has also been a healthy increase in Culiseta melanura mosquito populations in light trap collections. Further concern is directed at our present weather pattern, hot, humid and rainy conditions. Predicted rain for this coming weekend, July 27, 28, and 29 will certainly have a sure impact on mosquito breeding. If the high amounts of Highland "J" translates into Eastern Equine Encephalitis and we have a resultant increase in the biting mosquito population, this may lead to the amplification of EEE throughout the high risk areas. The pattern developing seems to indicate that we will have a_problem developing in Plymouth and Bristol Counties toward mid-August. We could expect a problem here toward the end of August. Considering this information the Board concurred with Mr. Henley that if predicated rain materilizes we would begin increased larviciding as of July 30, 1984. The following week we could be in a postion to localized backpack adulticiding. 435