San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District’s 2018
comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) has been awarded the
Government Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of
Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. The
Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in
governmental accounting and financial reporting, and
its attainment represents a significant accomplishment.
As of September 3, 2019, there have been 179 dead birds reported
in San Mateo County. Of those, 38 have been suitable for testing
and all 38 have tested negative for West Nile virus (WNV). No
mosquito pools or sentinel chickens have tested positive for West
Nile virus in San Mateo County in 2019.
This table contains the number of each type of service request in
August 2019 compared to the four-year average in August. Total
service requests are higher this August than the four-year
average. The higher number is largely because of 608 yellowjacket
and wasp service requests, which is a record month for the
District. Mosquito service requests are near average, even though
trap collections show above average mosquito population abundance
this summer. Dead birds are lower than usual this summer, because
there has been no West Nile virus activity in the bay area this
season.
In response to parental concerns about the possibility of
children picking up ticks on athletic fields, the District
recently conducted tick surveys at seven elementary and middle
schools in the Pacifica School District (PSD). Many schools in
Pacifica border open spaces that host wildlife and large areas of
tick habitat, and are near parks and other outdoor recreation
areas where tick exposures are common. All athletic fields
and grassy areas were sampled at each school, as well as any
bordering natural habitat that could present a hospitable
environment for ticks.
Every year the District collects ticks from recreational areas in the county to assess the risk of tick-borne disease. One way to measure this is by determining the minimum infection prevalence (MIP), which estimates what percentage of these ticks are expected to be carrying a given disease agent in a population. The laboratory has completed testing for two vector-borne disease agents from ticks collected from November 2018 to June 2019.
