SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) _ Mosquito-control workers in the U.S. are taking advance steps to combat the spread of the Zika virus.
Leaders of municipal mosquito control agencies said Monday that they’re telling automotive retailers to get rid of old tires in the Florida Panhandle, lining up laboratories capable of screening mosquitoes for the Zika virus in New Orleans, and preparing to hunt and destroy mosquito breeding spots near where people with confirmed infections live on the Georgia coast.
Mark Cothran, mosquito control director for Gulf County, Florida, says the mosquito species that spread the virus are tough to fight because they stay close to people’s homes where they’re hard to reach with spraying.
He’s among hundreds of mosquito experts attending the American Mosquito Control Association’s annual conference in Savannah, Georgia, which opened Monday.
