Mosquito sprayings have become routine in Laurel as city officials continue to ask residents to help prevent mosquito breeding grounds in their yards while city officials take precautions against the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is being reported throughout the country.
As part of the Maryland Department of Agriculture Mosquito Control Program, Laurel's Department of Public Works crews have begun larviciding areas around the city, according to office manager Michele Blair, targeting mosquito larvae with the insecticide.
Crews are also monitoring the city's hotspots that include areas of stagnant water, places that provide ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Sprayings against adult mosquitoes, known as adulticiding, will begin at dusk on Sunday evenings in mid-June. Blair said spraying techniques become difficult when dealing with the Asian tiger mosquito, the type of mosquito that carries and transmits the Zika virus.
Asian tiger mosquitoes can be identified by their white stripes, she said.
"They come out when they have 'the blood meal,' which is when there's something for them to eat," Blair said. With the sprayings scheduled at night, "the adulticiding is not as effective because they're not drawn out [at night]; they're sleeping at that point."
In an effort to curb growing breeding grounds, Blair said residents must "police their properties" to remove or dump anything that holds standing water, including potted plants, bird baths, old tires, gutters and children's toys, where mosquitoes breed in the small amount of water that's collected. . Residents should also sweep other areas, like grass and bushes, where mosquitoes tend to hide.
The Zika virus has become a growing concern, particularly the virus' effects on pregnant women.
So far, there have been 544 confirmed U.S. cases of Zika, 17 of them in Maryland. Pregnant women, who are more likely to seek testing, accounted for 157 of the cases including one from Maryland, a sharp increase reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reflecting a change in how cases are counted.
All the U.S. cases were determined to be travel-related. Ten cases nationally were sexually transmitted from people who had traveled to Zika hotspots
Symptoms of the virus include a rash, muscle aches and pink eye or conjunctivitis. Pregnant women infected with the virus are giving birth to babies with microcephaly, a disorder that stunts the growth of their brains and heads, health officials said.
"Some people will actually get it, not know they have it and sexually transmit it," Blair said. "It has a longer incubation period. Some people will just feel lousy for a couple of days then that's it. There's no long-term problem with some people."
Laurel resident Monique Rainford, a practicing obsetetrician and gynecologist, said travelers, especially pregnant women, should research their destination and learn of Zika-infected areas on the CDC's website.
"If they happen to be in an area [with Zika], they should protect themselves with mosquito repellent containing DEET and it has to be EPA-approved," Rainford said. "That is safe for pregnant women. It's definitely becoming more common and I think it's frightening for any pregnant woman. I think that we, as obstetricians, are mindful of their concerns and we want to support them."
During a panel on May 23 at Johns Hopkins Hospital, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, was joined by nearly three dozen experts to learn more about threats from the virus, as Congress debates an Obama Administration request for $1.9 billion in emergency funding for domestic and international response to the mosquito-borne virus already causing grave harm largely in Central and South America.
In late April, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared Zika Awareness Week, coordinating educational events with local health departments and state-funded kits for pregnant women that include information, repellent and condoms to protect women from sexual transmission.
About 10,000 kits will be distributed around Maryland at a cost of $130,000, according to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
"If the governor declares a health emergency due to the Zika virus, spraying will happen even in no-spray zones," Blair said. "It will happen not on a scheduled time, but in response to whatever that emergency is."
"It's going to be a pretty significant push," said Bill Goddard, Laurel's director of emergency management services. "It's really going to be a concerted effort to get the message to all the citizens throughout the city of Laurel, which is do not permit water to be standing in a lot of these empty containers that you may have."
Baltimore Sun reporter Meredith Cohn contributed to this story.