The DeKalb County Board of Health confirmed that mosquitoes in the Ashford Park area in Brookhaven near Chamblee tested positive for the West Nile virus.
As of Tuesday, no cases of a person contracting West Nile virus in DeKalb County had been reported.
Throughout the year, the board traps and tests mosquitoes in various areas across the county for any arbovirus, including West Nile.
“We can’t tell which mosquito it was,” said Juanette Willis, the arbovirus coordinator. “It could be one mosquito, or it could be all of them.”
The latest results came back Thursday, and Willis immediately reached out to local communities in Brookhaven and Chamblee to help spread the word.
She said that one common misconception is that people are safe if they don’t live near bodies of water.
“This mosquito that carries West Nile tends to breed in urban areas in manmade containers,” Willis said. “We need the public to be out dumping those areas.”
Those manmade containers often include flower pots, hub caps and bird baths that collect rain water over time. Dumping out that stagnant water eliminates the breeding ground and reduces the risk of attracting mosquitoes.
Willis also stressed the importance of using mosquito repellant when outside.
“The West Nile season is just getting started,” she said. “We typically see human cases in August, September and into October.”
The Brookhaven and Chamblee area is not alone in the fight against these mosquitoes. Willis explained that positive results like these have already turned up in other DeKalb cities this year, including Tucker, Clarkston, Stone Mountain and Decatur.
“Really anywhere in the metro Atlanta area people are at risk,” she said. “We just know these are higher risk areas at this time.”
If you have dumped out the water containers in your area and taken preventative measures but are still noticing a problem with mosquitoes, contact the DeKalb County Board of Health for a visit to your home to address the issue.
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