By Kathianne Boniello
Pesticide spraying in northeast Queens went as planned last week after the city Health Department announced the first human case of the West Nile virus in Queens Aug. 22.
The first Queens resident to become infected with West Nile was an elderly Bayside man, the Health Department said last week.
The 75-year-old man began showing symptoms of the virus on Aug. 14, the Health Department said. The man, whose name was not released, is the second city resident so far in 2001 to become infected and one of only a handful nationwide to be identified with the virus this summer. It was widely reported that an Atlanta woman infected with West Nile died earlier this month.
The infection of the Bayside man prompted the city Health Department to begin pesticide spraying in Auburndale and Bayside last week. The virus was identified in birds and mosquitoes in Bellerose in July, but at the time the city Health Department chose to engage in a larviciding campaign to kill off infant mosquitoes.
A spokesman for the city Health Department confirmed Tuesday that the pesticide spraying planned for Auburndale and Bayside went as scheduled Friday, while spraying set for Central Park was delayed by weather.
The city has no plans for further spraying at this time.
The Bayside man was hospitalized a few days after his infection was first identified.
The West Nile virus was first identified in the Western Hemisphere in August 1999, when infected residents from the Powell’s Cove section of Queens were discovered by an alert doctor at Flushing Hospital.
The virus is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, which contract it from infected birds. In 1999, four people died of West Nile in Queens and dozens throughout the city were sickened.
West Nile virus produces flu-like symptoms including achiness, fever, sore joints, muscle pain and headaches. Young children and the elderly are especially susceptible to the illness.
The city sparked controversy in 1999 when it chose the insecticide malathion to reduce the mosquito population and combat the spread of the virus. Prior to 1999 the city’s insecticide campaign had been negligible.
In 2000 and 2001 the Health Department strove to focus on prevention as a way to fight West Nile and began targeting larvae to curb the mosquito population.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
