Zika virus mosquito discovered in Windsor

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit said that mosquitoes develop fully in four stages and the larvae found were only in the second stage.

“We do not know exactly how the larvae arrived here,” Local medical officer of health Dr. Gary Kirk said. “It could be in shipping containers or other cross-border traffic.”

“We need to see what happens,” Kirk continued. “It’s speculative that it could establish itself. We just don’t have enough data.”

But Dr. Doug Sider, medical director of communicable disease prevention for Public Health Ontario expressed great concern due to the spread of Zika virus in the southern U.S. states

“We can’t curtail Zika virus,” said Sider, who noted how quickly it gained a foothold in states such as Florida.

“We expect at some point (mosquitos with the virus) will be in Essex County because of the climate. We have to treat this infection with huge respect. We need to be mindful, we need to be vigilant and get on top of this and the risk.”

When asked whether residents in Windsor or anywhere in Canada should be concerned about Zika in six months or a year from now, Kirk responded: “You are asking me to look into the future, that’s not something we in public health do.”

Both Sider and Kirk had been requesting the public to use necessary precautions such as elimination of standing water on their properties, especially in containers, and use of repellents.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj,Image: Wikimedia Commons)