Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Managing Rodents and Mosquitoes
Through Integrated
INTRODUCTION
Good:
Hello,
I’m Cynthia Good. Welcome to today’s program, “Managing Rodents and Mosquitoes
through Integrated Pest Management.” Over the next 90 minutes we’re going to look
at the threats, both re-emerging and new, that rats, mice and mosquitoes pose
to cities and rural areas. And we'll
examine the most effective strategy for managing these pests – Integrated Pest
Management.
But
first here are some important numbers if you’re having problems receiving our
program. For technical assistance call: 800-728-8232.
That’s 800-728-8232. If you’re
viewing from outside the
If
you’re viewing today’s broadcast through a subscription network and are
experiencing technical difficulties, the problem may be with your provider.
Please contact your network’s technical assistance line about any problems you
may be having. [PAUSE]
Good:
In
recent years many urban communities have experienced a resurgence of the rodent
problem. In some communities more than
50 percent of the premises are infested with rats and mice. In 1993, the rodent-borne Hantavirus
pulmonary syndrome made national headlines when it claimed several lives in the
desert Southwest. And more recently
mosquitoes have been responsible for the spread of the occasionally lethal West
Nile Virus.
For centuries rats and mosquitoes have carried
numerous diseases that threaten our health and the quality of our lives. They are not just a nuisance. These diseases
pose fresh challenges for our environmental public health services
workforce. Today we will learn how to
best protect ourselves from these sometimes deadly pests by applying a systems
approach we call 'Integrated Pest Management or I-P-M for short. Now let's look at a short animated piece,
created here at CDC specifically for this program that illustrates some of the
conditions that would favor rodent and mosquito infestation.
(ANIMATION TAPE)
Good:
To help us understand I-P-M strategy, we have
assembled a panel of experts.
Joining me today is Dr. Stephen Frantz, Principal
Officer of Global Environmental Options and former Director of Vector Biology
and Comprehensive Management at the New York State Department of Health. Dr.
Frantz is one of the nation's leading experts on rodent control and integrated
pest management.
Also
with us today is Dr. Gary Clark, Chief of the Dengue Branch in the Division of
Vector-Borne Diseases at CDC's
With us too is Dr. Virginia Caine, Director of the
Marion County Health Department in
And finally, Dr. Patrick Meehan, Deputy Director for
Program of CDC's
Welcome to you all.
And now let's look at the objectives for today's broadcast.
This
program has four principal objectives:
One…
describe environmental factors associated with pest infestations.
Two…
describe the current practice of health departments to manage pest
infestations.
Three…
describe Integrated Pest Management and its importance in managing pest
infestations.
And
four…describe CDC’s promotion of I-P-M.
In the course of the program we’ll also be showing
you the contact numbers you can use to call us or fax in your questions.
You’ll be glad to know that
continuing education credit is available to you for participating in this
broadcast. To receive credit, you need
to register and complete the evaluation form.
We’re offering C-M-E, C-N-E, CHES, and regular C-E-U credit for this
broadcast.
Specific information on how to get credit is on the
broadcast website (www.phppo.cdc.gov./phtn/ipm). I’ll also give you more information about
accreditation at the end of the broadcast.
Now let’s get started. Here’s Dr. Richard Joseph Jackson, senior
advisor to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
former Director of the CDC's
(
This special program on integrated pest management or
IPM focuses on two important threats to health:
mosquitoes and rats and mice.
These pests have existed with humans and affected our health since the
beginning of time. In medieval
So what should we do?
We need to take a long range comprehensive approach to the problem. A comprehensive approach that combines
biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes
threats to our health and to the environment.
That’s what we mean by IPM.
Instead of sitting back and waiting for calls or complaints or reports
of rat bites or mosquito-caused illnesses, we need to focus more on prevention
and on changing behaviors.
Here’s our action plan. Number one, we have to work with the
community. These problems are too
complex for any one group to manage alone.
Number two, we’ve got to identify the root causes, things like food
supplies and breeding grounds for these pests.
Number three, we have to track the illnesses, we have to perform the
inspections; we have to conduct surveillance.
Number four, we have to improve sanitation and we have to enforce the
public health codes. Number five, we are
going to need to use pesticides, but we ought to do it effectively, carefully,
and intelligently. And finally, we need
to measure our success because unless we can demonstrate that we are having an
impact, sooner or later we will lose support for the program.
I’ll give you an example of how this works. Let’s ask ourselves why are rats and mice a
problem? Usually it’s because we humans
are providing them with the food, water and shelter that they need. We put out plastic trash bags full of
leftover food, leave them out, or we put food in dumpsters where the trash is
overflowing. We tolerate tumbled down
buildings and abandoned vehicles where rats and mice take shelter. And even if we leave pet food and water out
for long periods of time, it can attract them.
These kinds of things make it easy for rats and mice to live with us,
and it explains why in a recent survey in a major American city 20 percent of
the buildings were infested with rats and mice.
In some of the neighborhoods, more than half of the buildings were
infested. Rats and mice spread disease,
they contaminate food and they destroy property. They bite 10,000 people a year, mostly
children and the elderly. In fact,
they’ve even started fires by gnawing on electrical wires, and sometimes these
fires have resulted in serious injury and death.
We’re not controlling these problems or practicing
good public health if all we do is put out poison after someone complains. What is effective is working with other
agencies and organizations and with decision makers and with the community to
change our behaviors. These actions will
help eliminate the conditions that make it easy for rats and mice to survive.
In the case of mosquitoes, our focus in the past has
been on spraying areas where mosquitoes are a nuisance and where tourism might
be affected. In the
We have tended to think of this issue as a rodent and
a mosquito problem, but it’s really our problem. It’s a human problem. An IPM approach is required to address
it. We recognize that there are limited
resources and there are other competing health priorities, and this has had a
significant impact of how health departments manage the problem. And many health departments rely on
pesticides, but they are just a small part of the solution. And in fact, widespread indiscriminate use of
pesticides creates it own problems. In
fact, the biggest hindrance to managing mosquitoes is that most environmental
public health programs are understaffed and overworked.
Our purpose today is to highlight the importance of
integrated pest management. We recognize
to successfully apply an IPM approach; we need to improve the capabilities of
all of us in the public health workforce.
And this broadcast is designed to bring attention to both of these
important issues: IPM and workforce development. Our panel of experts will tell you more about
the environmental factors associated with rat, mouse and mosquito infestations,
and it will give you an overview of the current practices that health
departments are using to manage these pests and highlight the important
contribution that IPM can make. And
finally, it will show you how CDC is working with you in the public health
services workforce to make IPM a reality.
MANAGING
RODENT INFESTATIONS
Good:
Before we talk about Integrated Pest Management, can
you start us off, Stephen, by telling us why rats and mice pose such a serious
threat to our health and well-being?
Frantz:
Cynthia,
rats and mice have always been among the most destructive animals on the
planet. In scientific terms, we call
them zoonotic pests or vectors. Pests
because they can harm and annoy us. And
vectors because they carry zoonotic disease organisms transmissible to humans. The biggest threats are the 'commensal'
species, from the Latin meaning 'sharing the table', which in some cases they
almost literally do. These animals
depend almost exclusively on the built environment and agriculture to survive
and thrive.
Nobody
feels comfortable seeing rats and mice in their home or even running about in
the street. We know that they are a
vector for many diseases such as plague and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, but
recent studies also show that mice can be a trigger for asthma attacks. In addition to biting, bringing disease and
causing stress, they also consume and contaminate tons of food and cause
tremendous physical damage to structures and material goods. Keeping a rodent-free environment is a
constant and daily challenge.
Good:
Can you give us some historical background on efforts
to control rodents?
Frantz:
By the beginning of the 20th century, US
government agencies had acquired considerable expertise in successful rodent
management. The key to success was
environmental management that focused on eliminating food sources, water, and
harborage. However, by the 1940s, new
poisons for rodent control began to eclipse good environmental management. Today, we place far too much reliance on
poisoning. In fact, sustainable, safe,
rodent management has been lacking for several decades.
Good:
Have there been any major efforts since the 1940s and
50s aimed at rodent management?
Frantz:
Yes, there have. One of the most important efforts was the
federal urban rat control program run by CDC from 1972 to 1981. This program awarded grants to more than 65
cities and counties throughout the
Good:
It sounds like the program was very successful. And what's the situation today?
Frantz:
Unfortunately, since 1981 when the federal program
ended there's been a resurgence of the rodent problem in many communities. As a
result, these communities have had to make hard choices about how to spend
limited resources and the presence of rats and mice apparently have not ranked
high. In 1999, an American Housing
Survey found that more than 8 million housing units in the
On top of this, budgets for programs aimed at
improving housing conditions and aging housing stock, especially in low-income
neighborhoods, are now either tight or being slashed. Solid waste management, street and building maintenance,
affordable housing for the needy are also cash strapped programs. Today, most rodent control programs are
complaint-oriented and are limited to poisoning and sometimes, trapping.
Undoubtedly, rodents are taking advantage of this situation.
Good:
In fact, CDC's
(RODENT PROBLEM & MANAGEMENT TAPE)
Rats and mice present a public health risk to the
residents of the community because they have been associated with the
transmission of diseases. Traditionally
and perhaps the most well known are the plague outbreaks in
Rats and mice present a health and safety risk to our
community primarily because of the possibility of transmission of rodent-borne
disease. That’s first and foremost of
our concern. Secondly, the economic
impact. They have a potential economic
impact on food establishments, restaurants, supermarkets, that sort of
thing. And finally, quality of life. We want to make sure that our citizens have a
good quality of life and rodents certainly detract from that, and we want to
improve the quality of life as well.
Rodents, like people, need food, shelter and water,
all of which are supplied in our home.
The greatest concern about the rodent problem is two
fold. One is, we have neglectful landlords
who are not responsible for their properties, or not taking
responsibilities. The other aspect is
that we have tenants who are not educated about rodent infestation.
They get into everything. They leave their droppings behind everywhere
and it’s awful in the morning sometimes when you open up the cabinets and you
find what foods they got into, and it can be very expensive because you’re
tossing food out that maybe you just bought that morning for the children.
As a population group, Native Americans certainly
stand a much more higher likelihood and pronounced possibilities of being
exposed to vector-borne diseases, as well as other diseases because as a
population group, we are still very intimately connected to mother nature. We still consume a lot of the wildlife, the
plants and therefore vector-borne diseases certainly creates a greater chance
for exposure to these kinds of diseases.
Plague is endemic to the Southwest. It presents a significant problem here in the
greater
The rats and mice problem is because they’ve had a
large amount of the Hantavirus on the Indian reservations, and those are deadly.
Just the fear that if they cannot get into the food,
they’re going to start coming after us, you know, and at nighttime, when you
hear these scuttles, you’re thinking, oh my God, where are they? Where are they and please hope that they
don’t come into my children.
Good:
So clearly there are a lot of issues that must be
addressed. Stephen, how do we go about
this?
Frantz:
Cynthia, as I alluded to already, today many
communities rely almost exclusively on complaint or nuisance-based management
techniques to attempt to control rodents.
When you use this approach you can initially get a sharp drop in the
population of the target species below the tolerance limit. However, generally the effect is only
temporary. Since you're not affecting
the breeding structure of the population it inevitably rebounds usually to
previous levels. The real answer is Integrated
Pest Management. The primary objective
of I-P-M is the permanent reduction of targeted pests to levels of virtually no
concern, i.e. the ‘tolerance limit’. You
can't do this simply by poisoning and trapping.
The first priority must be to modify the habitat in such a way that
populations are prevented from multiplying again to previous levels. Trapping and poisoning should only be
supplemental interventions in achieving a new, lowered population equilibrium.
I-P-M requires a
paradigm shift from typical pest control efforts. With I-P-M, you manage the environment to
manage the pest or
vector. This means we must take into
account the behavior and ecology of the target pest, in this case rats and
mice; the environment where they are active; and the periodic changes that
occur in that environment. At the same
time, we must ensure the safety of people as well as non-targeted animals, such
as livestock, pets, birds, and the environment.
Integrated
Pest Management is therefore a
decision-making process in which all necessary activities are brought to bear
on the vector or pest with the goal of providing a remedy that is: the most effective, safe, economical, and
sustained. These four criteria clearly
separate I-P-M from typical pest control practices. I-P-M has as its goal the long-term,
effective resolution of the problem.
Good:
So tell us then, what are the components of I-P-M?
Frantz:
There
are four key components: inspection and
monitoring; tolerance limit; interventions; and evaluation. Let's look at them one at a time.
The
inspection and monitoring system allows us to periodically measure the
magnitude of the problem and its environmental causes.
The
tolerance limit is the population level at which the pest causes sufficient
damage to warrant intervention. Damage can be: esthetic and nuisance,
economic, or medical and psychological.
Interventions
are the actions taken to eliminate or reduce the pest population and its
destructive effects. There are several common intervention categories that
might be used singly or, more typically, in combination to form an I-P-M
strategy. Educational Interventions
modify human behavior; Legal Interventions include the development, promotion,
and enforcement of regulatory codes, ordinances.
Then
we have Physical Interventions which provide alternative approaches to
housekeeping, storage practices, improved sanitation and rodent-proofing of
structures. Closely linked to physical
interventions are cultural interventions which primarily deal with landscape
design and maintenance. It includes
preventing access routes to buildings through overhanging foliage and removing
or thinning dense groundcover.
The
next category is biological interventions.
Predators, parasites, or pathogens
for a target population can also be introduced as part of an I-P-M
strategy. For some vector and pest
species like mosquitoes, we have some very effective biological agents. However, for commensal rodents, there are at
present no biological agents that don’t also pose a risk to non-target mammal
species. We have mechanical
interventions…devices such traps which capture the target species dead or
alive.
We
also have chemical interventions or pesticides.
The bulk of chemical interventions for rodents are lethal rodenticides
though there are some relatively effective repellent compounds used to prevent
rodent gnawing, such as plastic coated cables.
The
final and probably most critical component of an I-P-M plan is an effective
evaluation process. From the results of the evaluation
process, we can determine whether the I-P-M interventions need to be repeated
or modified. If the outcome is completely successful then we shift to
monitoring only.
MANAGING MOSQUITO
INFESTATIONS
Good:
Thanks,
Stephen. Now let's talk about I-P-M and
mosquitoes.
Cynthia,
mosquitoes are rightly considered among the most dangerous animals on the planet. Malaria alone kills more than a million
people each year. But although malaria,
yellow fever, and dengue are important priorities in the international
community, until recently mosquito-borne diseases had almost become public
health curiosities in the
Less
than a hundred years ago there were an estimated 600 thousand cases a year of
malaria. But, in the 1940s, thanks to a
variety of programs orchestrated by the Office of Malarial Control in
Good:
Why
do we need mosquito control since malaria has been eradicated?
Malaria,
dengue, and yellow fever are diseases that circulate between mosquitoes and
humans with little or no involvement of other vertebrates. But there is another class of diseases,
called zoonotic diseases, that are transmitted by mosquitoes and involve birds
and other vertebrate animals as well as humans.
West Nile Virus is one of these.
The natural cycle of
Prior
to the detection of
Good:
Is
it fair to say though that in recent years the threat from mosquitoes has been
increasing again?
Yes,
especially in northern areas of the country. However, areas with persistent, recurring
zoonotic diseases have continued to maintain integrated mosquito management
programs, especially since the 1975 epidemic of St. Louis encephalitis which
caused around 21 hundred human cases and one hundred seventy deaths.
In
many parts of the southern US, mosquito control programs have been maintained
and enlarged due to an increased demand for fewer mosquitoes in expanding
urban, suburban and recreational areas.
Fortunately, the programs that have the ability to manage nuisance
mosquitoes also possess the ability to reduce the density of mosquitoes that
transmit viral diseases.
Good:
What's
been the impact of
The
detection of West Nile virus in New York City in the summer of 1999 changed the
way many communities viewed their mosquito control needs, even though the
epidemic initially remained localized to four states in the Northeast. Since then the disease has spread rapidly
across the country. By 2002 it was
reported in 44 states. So far this year
it has been seen again in a majority of states and is still increasing. In 2002 the number of human cases of
Good:
The
camera crew from the
(WNV RESPONSE TAPE)
Good:
So
lots of different species presenting lots of different challenges.
As
Stephen pointed out, the cardinal rule is “manage the environment to manage the
pest.” We need to understand the relationship
between mosquitoes and the environment.
In
the mosquito life cycle, the adult female always looks for a habitat associated
with water to lay her eggs. Depending on
the species, this could be a bucket with water, a storm drain, a salt marsh,
the flood plain of a river, or a tree hole with water. About 2 days after the eggs are laid, they
are ready to hatch. A small larva or
wriggler comes out and begins to feed on bacteria and organic materials in the
water. At the end of four larval stages
the mosquito transforms into a pupa and from an aquatic into a terrestrial
creature. After about 2 days in the
pupal stage, the adult mosquito emerges onto the water’s surface and is soon
able to fly. The entire process from the
egg hatching to the emergence of the adult mosquito can take as little as 7
days, under optimal conditions of food and temperature.
For
Integrated Pest Management, applying interventions during the larval or aquatic
stage of mosquito development has proved to be the most effective method of
control. To do this we employ various
physical and chemical approaches to treat the unique aquatic habitats where
different mosquitoes reproduce.
Pesticides used for larval control are known as larvacides.
There
is always interest in biological interventions, namely the use of biological
organisms or their byproducts to manage mosquitoes. Fish that eat mosquito larvae are the most
extensively used biocontrol agent. Biocontrol
has the potential of becoming a more important tool and playing a larger role
in the future but more research is needed.
Adulticides
are another method of chemical intervention that is used in aerosol form.
Although less efficient than larvacides, they do sometimes represent an important
part of any I-P-M program. During
epidemic periods or when mosquitoes are produced in adjacent jurisdictions, it
may be the only option for mosquito control.
But the perceived ‘need’ for such spraying should be very carefully
assessed in terms of public health and the environment. They typically are applied as an Ultra-Low
Volume spray dispersed either by truck-mounted equipment or from aircraft. This is the common image that many people
have of mosquito control but it is just one intervention of an I-P-M
program. Let's hear one caution about
the use of pesticides.
(USE OF PESTICIDES TAPE)
Integrated pest management is an effort to reduce the
use of pesticides in a mosquito controlled program because while pesticides are
effective in mosquito control, they also can have long term harmful effects in
the environment and to human health. In
our county we have been working with experts and citizen groups to reduce or
eliminate any unnecessary use of pesticide, and to use other non-chemical
measures where possible for reducing the mosquito problem.
You can’t be outside enjoying the evening air. The children cannot play comfortably. You have to buy sprays and whatever for your
yard and for the air and for your children.
That can be expensive, too.
Clearly,
public education about mosquitoes is another important component of I-P-M. Residents can prevent the pots and other
artificial containers in their backyards and patios from becoming prime
mosquito habitats. Any of these
containers, ranging from buckets to tires to children’s toys to boat covers, if
filled with water and left unattended for only a week, can produce mosquitoes,
resulting in higher densities at the residence – the site where people are most
commonly bitten by mosquitoes, including those that transmit
(MOSQUITO BORNE DISEASE TAPE)
It’s very important for communities to be aware of
pest controls, and safe ways to control pests including not using pesticide
through preventive measures. So the
health department reaches out to communities through the internet on our
website, through public service announcements, through appearances at community
meetings, through flyers, through an informational hotline, and any way we can
to get the word out about ways that people can prevent mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquito control requires the cooperation of
everyone in the community. In order to
get rid of standing water, homeowners need to do their part. In order for catch basins to have larvacide
applied, every municipality needs to make sure that the catch basins are
cleaned. Without the involvement of
communities, homeowners, and everyone, it will be difficult to prevent
mosquito-borne diseases.
In
addition, residents need to be aware of the effectiveness and value of physical
barriers or interventions. Originally
window screens were one of the important innovations which helped eradicate
malaria in this country and they continue to be effective today. Using chemical
repellents too is an important way in which people can prevent themselves being
bitten by mosquitoes.
Good:
How
widely has I-P-M been adopted as an approach to mosquito management, especially
since the arrival of
We
have seen a major expansion of integrated mosquito management programs. With CDC support and technical assistance,
communities with existing vector mosquito control programs are extending their
capabilities to locate the sources of vector mosquitoes, monitor them, and
prevent adult mosquitoes from emerging from these habitats. Many programs are also expanding their
abilities to monitor adult mosquito densities and
CDC COMMITMENT TO IPM
Good:
Thank
you,
Meehan:
I'd
be glad to, Cynthia. But before I begin, I'd like to put I-P-M in a broader
context. An important mission for CDC is
to build the infrastructure of environmental public health services in the
You
have heard from my colleagues about the spread and impact of
Rats, mice, mosquitoes, and other pests often serve
as sentinels for unhealthy housing conditions and associated health risks. And experience tells us that Integrated Pest
Management is the most efficient and effective way to eliminate or manage these
pests as well as prevent the spread of disease and injury from them.
However,
applying this systems' approach requires a greater commitment from the public
health community and the general public than currently exists. This is the reason for our broadcast
today. It is to bring attention to
problems such as
It
is in this larger framework, that I'd like to share with you what we are doing
at CDC. First of all, we are working
with a number of national and local organizations interested in vector
management to develop guidelines for sustainable integrated mosquito
management. These guidelines will address
the components of a successful integrated mosquito management program based on
research findings and best practices. When
completed in the next few months the guidelines will be available on the CDC
website. Last year, in the July 26 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report, CDC published guidelines on Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. And, in the future, CDC will also be posting
new guidelines on the Control of Commensal Rodents Using Integrated Pest
Management. These too will be available
on CDC's website.
We
also are exploring ways to obtain political and public health commitments to
develop: One, long-term sustainable
vector management programs which include priority funding; And two… methods to
identify areas of high risk.
CDC supports two innovative demonstration projects in
Good:
Thanks,
Pat. The
(CDC DEMO PROJECTS TAPE)
In the City of Philadelphia, we’ve received special
funds to conduct a demonstration project which involves doing interior and
exterior inspections of premises to determine the magnitude of the rodent
infestation which is a very big component of integrated pest management. Once we’ve determined the magnitude of the
problem and the causative conditions, then we can adequately educate the community
on how to solve the problems. Our
measurement of success is twofold.
Number one is to reduce the prevalence of rodents in the premises by
measuring the presence or absence of rodents during survey, and our second
component of measuring our success is actually looking to see if the causative
conditions, such as abandoned automobiles, animal food, exposed garbage, are
present from survey to survey.
Well, we have an integrated pest management program
in place within the city and obviously what we’re doing is really trying to
prevent infestations and conditions conducive to infestations. We have a very aggressive enforcement
program. We have exterminations
conducted when necessary, and we have clean ups. We clean up lots to eliminate conditions that
are conducive to such infestations.
Currently the Department of Health tracks rodent
complaints through a data base. This
captures information such as complaint and address and allegation. Also it captures why the inspection has
failed. This is important to us because
then we can map out by density the reason that the inspection failed. If it failed due to active rodent signs, it’s
much more significant than it failed for a hole in the door. This way we can target our resources on those
areas that really need it rather than those that just complain the most.
Some of the techniques that are used are stoppage,
which is a process whereby you close every hole in the surrounding property or
around the property to prevent rodents from entering the property. And another component is cleaning of all
surfaces: floors and countertops, and also using plastic containers to house
foods.
The Health Department havs come to speak to a lot of
the community residents about problems with the rats. The Health Department have come in and helped
out the people by covering up the holes.
They have fumigated, they have also talked to landlords to get the
basements and also the yards cleaned up.
Then if the landlords don’t do their job, then the Health Department
comes and fines them which is something that’s really good about them. Before, we couldn’t sit down in the front
because the rats used to come out and attack us all the time. They will come out of nowhere. My apartment – I couldn’t even – the kids
have to be locking all the doors up because they will come out in the kitchen
and come in and scare the kids and stuff like that. Now we can sit in the front. I don’t see any at all. I mean nothing at all. They don’t come out of my apartment
anymore. The basements are clean. The landlords were actually being pushed
before because of the rat problem because the basements and the yards were, you
know, full of garbage. Now the landlords
actually cleaned up everything, so now they’re maintaining all the cleaning in
the building and stuff like that.
For a long time, community residents had to walk up
and down
Good:
Pat
those are very comprehensive projects. What's the lesson that they provide?
Meehan:
Our
expectation is that these demonstration programs will be replicated in other
communities across the country since they clearly demonstrate the value of the
I-P-M systems approach. At the same
time, we hope that through this broadcast, with its focus on vector driven
problems and the effectiveness of I-P-M in resolving them, that we are
presenting a powerful case to both public health authorities and the public, as
to why they need to adopt I-P-M practices to better protect our communities.
IMPLEMENTATION OF IPM IN
Good:
Thank
you, Pat. And now I'd like to turn to
the final member of our panel.
Caine:
Thank you, Cynthia.
The Marion County Health Department serves nearly one million people. Our county ranks as one of the largest in the
nation and includes the city of
Our
Health Department’s comprehensive rodent control program dates back to the
early 1970s when we were the recipient of a federal grant to manage the urban rodent
problem. Our focus was on eliminating
those environmental conditions that allow rats and mice to survive and
multiply. I am proud to say that over
these many years, we continue to apply integrated pest management principles to
control rats and mice. In 1972, nearly
40 percent of the premises in some
When
the federal grant program was discontinued in 1981, we recognized the
importance and need to continue this comprehensive program by using local
funds. Today the program operates almost
exclusively with local tax dollars. Our
program remains multi-faceted and deals with the biological, cultural, and
environmental aspects of rodent infestation in a way that has long-term
benefits for our community. The use of
rodenticides and trapping play a much smaller role than it does in many
communities where the approach often is complaint-oriented and highly dependent
on the use of poisons and trapping. Such
programs lack surveillance which is critical to determining the magnitude of
the problem and successfully addressing it.
Eliminating
the conditions that attract rodents and allow them to survive and multiply is
the major focus of our effort. We
routinely remove millions of pounds of refuse from vacant lots and abandoned
buildings. We exercise strong code
enforcement where necessary, and we work closely with community-based
organizations, especially in conducting clean-up campaigns. We even have a tool loan program to help with
the clean-up of neighborhoods.
Now,
I’d like to talk about mosquito management.
The Health Department’s mosquito management program began well before
the threat of
Since
the
We
have enjoyed considerable success in managing both rodent and mosquito
populations, and that's because we apply I-P-M principles in all that we do to
manage these pests. Our experience tells
us that there is no short-cut. If we
want to prevent disease and improve the quality of life of our citizens, we
must find the resources to address these problems in a comprehensive way. Our citizens deserve nothing less.
QUESTION & ANSWER
SESSION
Good:
Thank
you,
For
those of you interested in continuing education credits for this program – you
must register and complete an evaluation in order to receive credit. We’re offering C-M-E, C-N-E, CHES, and regular C-E-U credit based
on one and a half hours of instruction.
Here’s how
to get credit!
The CDC Training and Continuing
Education Online System is simple to operate.
Use this address to access the system:
W-W-W dot P
- H - P - P -O dot CDC
dot GOV forward slash P - H - T -
N ON-LINE, all one word.
[PAUSE]
If you
have any problems with the online system, refer to the extensive help system or
you may also ask for assistance by phone or e-mail. Call us toll free at 800- 41- TRAIN, that’s
800- 4-1-8- 7-2-4-6.
This toll free number is available Monday through Friday from
Our e-mail
address is C - E at CDC dot GOV.
The registration and evaluation forms will be active on the online
system until October 18, 2003 for the satellite broadcast and live webcast, and
for up to three years for the archived webcast and videotape; but we recommend
you complete the process sooner
rather than later. Please try to wrap it
up in the next few days if possible, while it’s fresh on your mind.
[PAUSE]
And now let's go to our first question from [STATE].
Good:
I’m afraid that’s all the time we have for your
questions. However, if you weren’t able
to get through to our operators or think of a question later, you can still
send them to this e-mail address: I-P-M
at C-D-C dot gov. Answers will be posted
on our website beginning next week.
We hope the information we presented today on managing
rodents and mosquitoes through Integrated Pest Management will prove useful to
you whether you’re a policymaker, practitioner, or interested observer. Since CDC is presenting this broadcast, I'd
like to ask Dr. Pat Meehan to say a few final words. Pat?
Meehan:
Thanks Cynthia.
I'd like to congratulate those communities that have made the effort to
adopt I-P-M principles and practices.
You are an inspiration by your example.
And I would like to encourage others to follow suit based on the
information we have presented in this broadcast.
Good:
Thanks, Pat. Before
we go, here are a few final housekeeping reminders. Please be sure to visit the program website (www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtn/ipm) and
give us your comments about today’s program.
While you're there you can also obtain your
continuing education credit by filling out the form at this address: (www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtnonline)
If you’d like to view today’s program again, you can
do so by logging on to CDC website (www.phppo.cdc.gov/phtn) and
following the links to the archived webcasts.
We’d also like to remind you that if you have questions
or contributions to make about environmental health services to please join
CDC’s Environmental Health List-Serv.
Instructions on how to do this can be found at the environmental health
services website (www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs)
on the screen.
My
thanks to all our panelists for joining us today. And thank you too for taking the time to be
with us to discuss the important topic of Managing Rodents and Mosquitoes
through Integrated Pest Management. We
wish you the best of luck.
Next
week the Public Health Training Network brings you the first of two programs on
another very critical public health concern.
Join us Tuesday, September 23rd at
Until
then, on behalf of everyone at CDC and the
Public Health Training Network, I’m Cynthia Good wishing you a good day from