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Welcome to another episode of Peskies Pest Control podcast here in Birmingham Alabama with Michael and Travis. We do this podcast as a community service for Birmingham, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, Helena, Alabaster, Pelham and all other surrounding areas!
Michael Wienecke:
All right, so today we want to talk about a extremely deadly virus that is coming around the United States. We’ve had a couple cases in Alabama and it is coming from the mosquito and it is the Eastern equine encephalitis. We’ve only had two cases in Alabama. It’s extremely rare, but to have two cases, we figured we want to talk about it on the podcast.
Travis McGowin:
Well, and then keep in mind too that that’s two reported cases or two discovered cases. So, I mean, there definitely could be more in terms of just people haven’t discovered it yet. Maybe they, you know, they weren’t feeling well. So they went to, you know, a dock in a box or their general health care practitioner. You know, maybe they just weren’t tested too. So I think it’s safe to assume that EEE or Eastern equine encephalitis could there probably most likely is more cases than what’s been, you know, reported.
Michael Wienecke:
Yeah, and this particular disease is, it’s not pretty. It says 30 cases or 30, I’m sorry, 30% of people die from it. The rest that survive have got neurological issues for the rest of their life. So definitely something that you want to pay attention to.
Travis McGowin:
Yeah, and the frustrating thing is too, is that unfortunately there is no quote unquote cure for it. So there’s really just palliative care if that’s something that you contract, you know, over the counter medications to manage, you know, whatever those symptoms are, you know, whether it’s fever, headache, chills, you know, those sorts of things, flu-like symptoms or whatever the symptoms that come with the EEE are, you can only really manage those. But the actual virus itself has to run its course. And like you said, you know, 30% fatal cases and then lasting neurological issues for people have been noted as well. So you know, the main thing that we need to let our listeners know is that this virus is spread by the mosquito and here where we live, the mosquito is very, very prevalent. It’s very difficult right now, this time of year, to go outside, especially in the early morning or late afternoon and evening when it’s a little cooler and not get bombarded or attacked by mosquitoes. You know, thankfully at Peskies we do treat for mosquitoes and it’s very effective. But Michael, what are some things that homeowners can do, maybe groups in a neighborhood can do to kind of come together to try to, you know, mitigate the risk or at least lower the risk that themselves or their children might be bitten by this? What are some things you can do to kind of help keep mosquitoes away?
Michael Wienecke:
So we’ll break this down in easy to hard category. So the easy one would be just eliminate all the water sources. And I know we’ve talked about that countless times on other mosquito podcasts that we’ve done, but that is so important. I went out the other day and found just a little bit of water in a wheelbarrow that was right up under my deck. Went over there, flipped it off, you know, got all that water out and mosquitoes just started pouring out of it. So it’s so important just to make sure birdbaths, gutters, gutters are huge. If you’ve got gutters that are just overflowing with water and all that debris, it’s a huge breeding site for them. Keeping your grass cut, you know, a good two inches, all the brush around your house cut back, no clutter. That’s going to be a really good way to keep them out. Some of the harder ways, and I guess the more, the less fun way to keep mosquitoes off is wearing bug repellent. I personally do not like wearing bug repellent. I’m not a fan of it. It’s sticky.
Travis McGowin:
No, most of it makes my actual skin burn.
Michael Wienecke:
Yeah. Yeah. We actually, we use an all natural bug repellent that works pretty well on my son because he just gets these huge welts when he gets bit. So another one is wear long sleeve, long pants, something to cover up your neck, all that. Nobody really likes doing that when it’s 101 degrees outside.
Travis McGowin:
Yeah, and I mean, you know, definitely preventative measures that you can wear and that you can put on yourself to protect yourself outside. We’ve said this on podcasts before as well, that you can’t police your neighbors. You can’t police what they do. If someone’s got an old swimming pool or something like that in the backyard that’s got stagnant water in it and it’s a mosquito breeding site. I mean, you really can’t go onto their property and tell them what they do or don’t need to do with it and get rid of that stagnant water. But you know, as a neighborhood, like I said, a lot of neighborhoods have online groups where they talk about things and discuss things pertinent to the neighborhoods. Maybe that’s something that people could come together and do and just discuss and try to collectively eliminate breeding sites and eliminate mosquito issues in, you know, in small areas. And then, like I said, of course, we at Peskies, we treat for mosquitoes in, you know, several different types of ways. And it’s really, really effective and helpful. And that can definitely, you know, reduce populations and lower the chance of getting this eastern equine encephalitis.
Michael Wienecke:
Yeah, and I’ll say one other thing. Travis and I both treat our house. I will be treating my house throughout, normally we do March to October, I’ll actually be treating my house the entire year because the sun just gets welted up so bad when he gets bit by mosquitoes. So a treatment plan, you know, along with removing that water source, that debris, all that, a treatment plan is really going to be your best bet for controlling mosquitoes.
