06/16/98 - Bradenton and Umatilla Mediterranean Fruit Fly Update - DACS

Provided by Dr. Marion Fuller
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS)

Report Dated 06/15/98

Bradenton

Another fly was trapped yesterday, bringing the total up to 553. As of about 6:00 pm this evening, no flies had been picked up in today's traps, but that's still preliminary. The next aerial bait treatment is scheduled for Wednesday night, June 17, to begin around 10:00 pm, as before. And, as we did before, we'll take pre and post- treatment water samples, and monitor for drift.

Ground crews continue to treat host materials in the buffered areas, and fruit stripping is ongoing.

The number of traps in service is unchanged.

Environmental monitoring:
No report; however, I am attaching a bitmap of the aerial flight data from last week. The image isn't the clearest, but it gives you a good sense of where the bait treatments occurred versus where no material was dispensed. In the two outer zones, the dots are close together (and usually in color) while the bait mixture is dispensed, and farther apart when the application equipment is turned off. You'll note the setbacks from designated bodies of water, as well as one of the hospitals (the other is in the water buffer zone, so it doesn't show up). This is contrasted with the center zone - where the treatment was not recorded due to a malfunction in the on-board computer, as reported last week. As before, save the file to disk, then call it up in your word processor to view it.

Health Monitoring:
DOH reports another 22 calls received today that reported health complaints/symptoms. 18 of these were received by the Manatee CHD, 4 by DOH/Tallahassee.
Total calls reporting health concerns are 62 since June 1, 1998. The breakout is as follows:

Of the 62 cases, 1 has been lost to follow-up, 5 are not considered "cases" per DOH classification criteria.

DOH/Tallahassee continues to follow up on these calls.

Umatilla

No more flies have been detected.

The last application took place Saturday morning with no problems reported. Weather was favorable, and no mechanical difficulties were encountered. The helicopters have been sent home, and hopefully, won't be recalled.

Trapping will continue in the affected area for another life cycle (through about the second week in June). If no more flies are detected, protocols allow for the lifting of the quarantine and the attendant restrictions on fruit movement into and out of the area. After one life cycle of trapping, plans are to release sterile flies in the area, as a preventative program.

Environmental Monitoring:
No report

Health Monitoring:
No report

FDACS - Division of Plant Industy: Mediterranean fruit fly information
USDA APHIS: Mediterranean fruit fly information
UF/IFAS Fact Sheet ENY-809: The Mediterranean Fruit Fly
UF/IFAS Fact Sheet ENY-626: Mediterranean Fruit Fly: What Floridians Need To Know

The UF/IFAS Pest Alert WWW site is at: http://pestalert.ifas.ufl.edu/