West Nile Virus

The Oakland County Board of Commissioners has provided $500,000 to Cities, Villages and Townships within Oakland County to help combat the West Nile Virus. White Lake Township has been allocated nearly $14,000 through this action to assist our efforts of minimizing the risk of Township residents contracting the virus.

West Nile Virus is primarily a disease of bird populations. The virus is spread when a mosquito bites and extracts blood from an infected bird and then subsequently bites an uninfected bird thereby increasing the scope of the disease. Nearly all cases mosquitos carrying the WNV have been Culex mosquitos. Adult Culex Mosquitos live in high trees in order to be close to birds, which are the preferred food source for Culex Mosquitos. Humans are among the least desirable sources of blood for the Culex Mosquito. Culex pipien and Culex restuan prefer to lay their eggs in stagnant water with high organic content, such as pool covers, scrap tires, sewage lagoons, catch basins and the like.

The single best method to lessen the possibility of contracting WNV is to avoid contact with mosquitos. This can be accomplished by using repellents containing DEET and wearing long sleeved shirts and pants among other methods.

Another method to minimize exposure to WNV is to reduce the population of the Culex mosquito. By applying larvicides in mosquito habitat and breeding areas that prevent larvae from maturing into adult mosquitos and applying adulticides to control mature mosquitos, populations can be effectively controlled.

Currently Planning Department staff has treated and will continue to treat storm sewer catch basins with Vectolex WSP, a bacterial larvacide, throughout the entire Township. At this point there are no plans to implement an adulticide spraying program, but if the need presents itself a spray program will be in place.