As we enter mosquito season, the City of Highland Park and the Southlake Mosquito Abatement District (SLMAD) remind residents to take a number of precautions to avoid being bitten. Mosquitoes can carry different types of diseases, like West Nile virus and Zika virus, but there are a number of steps you can take to protect yourself from mosquito bites.
- Reduce - make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings. Try to keep doors and windows shut. Eliminate, or refresh each week, all sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed, including water in bird baths, ponds, flowerpots, wading pools, old tires, and any other containers.
- Repel - when outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, and apply insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or IR 3535, according to label instructions. Consult a physician before using repellents on infants.
- Report – report locations to SLMAD where you see water sitting stagnant for more than a week such as roadside ditches, flooded yards, and similar locations that may produce mosquitoes.
SLMAD is a Lake County unit of government that operates to reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases through the control of the mosquito population in Highland Park, Deerfield, Bannockburn, Highwood, and Riverwoods. SLMAD prevents the spread of mosquito-borne diseases be reducing the mosquito population through pre-hatch applications, larviciding standing water areas, and treating thousands of catch basins with bacterial larvicide several times during the mosquito season. SLMAD also treats areas along railroad tracks and public properties.
In extreme cases, the entire district is treated through an aerial application. All products used in mosquito control are registered and approved for use by the EPA, and are applied in accordance with recommended usage by the CDC. The chemicals used are not toxic to humans or animals. Please find frequently asked questions and answers below.
Additional Information and on-going communication about SLMAD is available at http://slmad.org/. For mosquito concerns and to report water standing more than 3 days: contact us at www.clarkeportal.com or call the SLMAD hotline at 800.942.2555.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
Q: What product is used by the Southlake program?
A: The product used in the Southlake program for adult mosquito control is called Merus 3.0.
Q: Can you tell me more? Is the product harmful to humans or animals?
A: All products used in mosquito control are registered and approved for use by the EPA, and are applied in accordance with recommended usage by the CDC. The chemicals used are not toxic to humans or animals. Additionally, Merus is the only public health adult mosquito control product that is Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI) Listed and meets National Organic Program (NOP) standards for adult mosquito control. Its active ingredient natural pyrethrins are a botanical insecticide produced by flowers from the chrysanthemum family. Flowers from pyrethrum-producing plants are picked by hand, sun-dried and sent to a processing plant for extraction of the active ingredient. In final formulation, Merus provides effective control without chemical synergists.
By meeting NOP standards, Merus can be used in or around organic crops without putting organic crop certification at risk. The OMRI Listed status of Merus means its components meet the Organic Materials Review Institute standards for ingredients that can be used in organic production or processing, meeting USDA National Organic Program (NOP) standards.