By Jeremy Unger

Although summer is now officially over for NYU students, the heat and humidity are still going strong, and that has New York City health officials worried about the growing prevalence of West Nile virus in the city. After six new cases emerged in just the last three days, health officials announced pesticide sprayings will continue when necessary in order to combat the disease, which has already infected 14 people this year.

Sprayings of the insecticide Anvil recently occurred in the Upper West Side and southern Brooklyn, centered around some of the the city’s largest lakes in Central and Prospect Parks. The sprayings, the first in the city this year and only the third in the last decade in Manhattan, are meant to curb one of the largest outbreaks in U.S. history. This summer all lower 48 states have reported cases of the virus, which is spread via mosquito bite and can cause serious health problems and death.

“West Nile virus is a serious disease,” said Dr. Waheed Bajwa, executive director of the Department of Health’s Office of Vector Surveillance and Control, to Community Board 7, according to Windsor Terrace Patch. “It can kill. So the message for the public is the best methods are preventive, and to avoid mosquito bites.”

But the sprayings have not come without some resistance, as anyone can expect when they are being told poison is about to be intentionally sprayed where they lived.

“We don’t need to poison our environment, kill off the mosquitoes’ natural predators, and cause long-term health problems,” said Mitchel Cohen, the Coordinator of No Spray Coalition, to Windsor Terrace Patch. “And that’s exactly what these spray trucks are going to do.” But officials are assuring New Yorkers that the sprayings pose little risk to humans. In a statement Department of Health officials said the pesticide,“no significant risks to human health, but some individuals may experience health effects.”

Even with the hell that is New York humidity continuing, New Yorkers should keep their windows closed, avoid wearing short-sleeved clothing when possible, and apply bug spray if they are outside for long periods of time. The spread of the virus will begin to slow down as fall approaches, but as last week’s 40 percent increase in cases showed, the continuing late summer humidity will be a huge factor in mosquito populations. And the remnants of Hurricane Isaac, which are supposed to soak New York this week, will not be any help.

But health officials told the New York Times, that so far the number of cases, “is within the same range that we have seen over the past decade,” and that the city is “taking every precaution necessary across the city and is regularly spraying to protect the health of New Yorkers.”

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