Mosquito control trucks to visit more areas in Miami-Dade

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade expanded the mosquito control area to more than 15 neighborhoods.

Three specially-outfitted Buffalo Turbine trucks will apply biweekly treatments to target mosquitoes in their developmental larval stages in standing rain or irrigation water.

“Our surveillance program data has shown us a shift in mosquito populations,” Mosquito Control Division Director William Petrie said in a statement on Wednesday.

The areas are in Allapattah, Cutler Bay, Deering Bay, Flagami, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Homestead, Kendall, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa-locka, Pinecrest, West Miami, Little River, and Wynwood.

The treatment is made out of spores from a naturally occurring bacteria that is mixed in a solution with water and sprayed into the air as a fine mist that disrupts the mosquito’s stomach, killing it within a matter of hours, according to Petrie.

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The treatment is only toxic to mosquito and black fly larvae.

Here are some tips to help keep residents mosquito bite-free this winter, and all year-round:

• Cover exposed skin with long sleeves, pants, socks and shoes, and/or with an EPA-registered mosquito repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR-3535 as the active ingredient

• Properly dispose of any unused items in your yard that may pool rain or irrigation water

• Periodically change out the water set out for your outdoor pets

• Clear out your rain gutters to prevent clogging and standing water that can facilitate breeding

• Maintain the proper chemical levels in your swimming pool all year round to prevent it from turning green and attracting mosquitoes

• Using the larvicide Bti in granular form in bromeliads and dunk form in birdbaths and fountains prevents breeding in them

• Investing in mesh screening on windows, doors and patios helps keep mosquitoes from entering your home

• Request a mosquito inspection and report mosquito nuisance issues like abandoned pools and standing water online at miamidade.gov/311Direct