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Saturday,
August 22, 2009
- Maryland /
Regional
-
Rainy months take big bite out of mosquito-control
efforts There are seven weeks to go in prime bug season
(Baltimore Sun)
-
- National /
International
-
Biden says health reform closer than ever despite 'all
the shouting' and political 'turmoil'
(Baltimore Sun)
-
- Opinion
- ---
-
-
- Maryland /
Regional
-
Rainy months take big bite out of mosquito-control
efforts There are seven weeks to go in prime bug season
-
- By Sarah Fisher
- Baltimore Sun
- Saturday, August 22, 2009
-
- Maryland's mosquito population has reached what some
are calling a two-decade high, while funding to fight
the disease-carrying pest is dwindling, according to
state officials who say they fear they will run out of
money before mosquito season ends.
-
- "We've had a very active year," said Mike Cantwell,
program manager of the Maryland Department of
Agriculture's mosquito control division. "We are getting
close to our budgeted amount for many counties and we
still have seven weeks to go."
-
- After an abnormally rainy spring fostered large
mosquito populations, the division used up much of its
budget to combat the swarms, he said. Now, with
hurricane season looming and the promise of more rainy
conditions that are ideal for mosquito breeding, aerial
and ground insecticide spraying efforts are in jeopardy.
-
- The state has sprayed insecticides by plane over
268,000 acres so far this year, Cantwell said. In a
typical mosquito season, which lasts through October, it
sprays 300,000 acres, putting the division well ahead of
its normal spraying schedule.
-
- Despite a relatively dry July, some are calling this
the worst mosquito season in 20 years, said David
Schofield, assistant program manager of the mosquito
control division.
-
- His office oversees mosquito control on the Eastern
Shore and uses a "human bait" technique to count the
winged pests. Two people stand outside and count the
number of mosquitoes that land on their arms and legs in
two minutes. Aerial spraying is in order if the count
reaches 12 mosquitoes per minute.
-
- "Southern Dorchester County has been experiencing
landing rate counts exceeding 100 per minute," Schofield
said. "Those are horrendous numbers. Normally in the
summer you don't break double digits for one minute."
-
- Tony DeWitt, an agricultural inspector monitoring
Baltimore and Harford counties, said numbers have
remained high in residential areas there as well. Even
areas typically not infested have been invaded, he said.
-
- The mosquito control program, which is voluntary,
requires local jurisdictions to contribute funds to
participate. Baltimore City does not participate in the
state's program because it does not provide the required
funds, Cantwell said.
-
- The Baltimore City Health Department responds to
complaints about mosquitoes by emptying containers with
standing water or treating standing water with chemicals
to kill mosquito larvae, said Juan Gutierrez, assistant
commissioner for environmental health. So far this year
there have been 99 mosquito-related investigations,
compared to 199 in 2008, he said.
-
- Jeannine Dorothy, a state entomologist whose College
Park office oversees the mosquito control program in
nine western and central Maryland counties, including
Baltimore, said budget cuts have had an impact on this
year's efforts. The program is operating without four of
the seasonal employees who administer the insecticides,
she said.
-
- "We just have to work to the level of the budget,"
Dorothy said. "When we come to the end of the money, we
stop."
-
- The state's total budget for the mosquito control
division is $2.9 million, with $1.7 million from the
state's general funds and $1.2 million generated through
fees from the counties.
-
- With more rain likely through the weekend, more
mosquitoes are also likely, adding to an already rising
population.
-
- The most active part of the hurricane season begins
in mid-August and lasts through late October, according
to the National Weather Service.
-
- Because mosquitoes can transmit diseases such as the
West Nile virus, they are more than just a nuisance.
-
- According to Schofield, five mosquito pools in
Maryland have tested positive for West Nile, four in
Worcester County and one in Prince George's County. No
cases of human transmittal of the virus have been
reported in Maryland this summer.
-
- But with the mosquito season's two busiest months
coming up, Schofield said, "We're nervous on our end."
-
- The buzz on Maryland mosquito control
-
- •268,000 acres sprayed by air so far this year
-
- •$2.9 million total spent in mosquito control, $1.7
million from the state's general fund and $1.2 million
from local fees
-
- •7 weeks remaining in mosquito season
-
- Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun.
-
- National / International
-
Biden says health reform closer than ever despite 'all
the shouting' and political 'turmoil'
-
- By Carla K. Johnson
- Baltimore Sun
- Friday, August 21, 2009
-
- CHICAGO (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden said
Thursday the nation has never been closer to substantial
health care overhaul despite "all the shouting and all
the political turmoil" of recent weeks.
-
- Biden said restraining costs and insuring more
people should unite fiscal conservatives and advocates
for the poor behind the Obama administration's efforts
to fix what Biden called a broken system.
-
- If he wanted to hear about troubles in health care,
he and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius came to the
right place. They got an earful from doctors and nurses
attending a round-table discussion at a struggling
nonprofit hospital serving the urban poor on Chicago's
West Side.
-
- A nurse said she worries about violent emergency
room patients who throw bedpans and spit at her. A
doctor from another hospital said she can't refer
patients to dietitians to prevent diabetes because
insurance won't pay for it. And a health researcher said
black Chicagoans die needlessly because they are
disadvantaged and uninsured.
-
- Biden announced nearly $1.2 billion in grants to
help the nation's hospitals and doctors put electronic
health records to use. The grants will be funded by the
$787 billion economic stimulus plan.
-
- Storing patient data electronically can improve
efficiency and prevent medical errors, Biden said,
adding he's tired of being handed paper forms to fill
out every time he goes to the doctor.
-
- "I get handed one more clipboard I feel like
clanging somebody on the head," Biden said, prompting
laughter from about 60 health care professionals in the
audience. "How many times do I have to fill out, yeah, I
had asthma, yeah, I had two craniotomies?"
-
- Biden sidestepped the question of whether a public
insurance option should be part of a final health care
bill. He made only passing reference to foes who've
challenged supporters of overhaul with charges of a
government takeover.
-
- "With all the shouting and all the political turmoil
on this issue, I don't think we've ever been closer to
being able to do something substantial" to improve
health care, Biden said.
-
- President Barack Obama has made expanding insurance
coverage and restraining health care costs his top
domestic priority. But he's lost ground on the issue in
opinion polls and Democrats in Congress are preparing to
go it alone on legislation although bipartisan talks
continue in the Senate.
-
- Thursday's event took place not at a flourishing
medical center but at Mount Sinai Hospital, where only 7
percent of the hospital's patients have private
insurance. The rest are covered by government programs
or are uninsured. In August, the hospital had only 1.42
days of cash on hand, hospitals leaders said. Its bad
debt, the bills left unpaid by patients, was $62.3
million last year.
-
- Mount Sinai nurse Chere Hamilton, among the Chicago
health care workers invited to speak during Biden's
round-table, said the hospital's emergency room is "a
very, very violent place."
-
- "We're spit at. We're swung at. We're kicked,"
Hamilton said. "We have urinals thrown at us. We have
bedpans thrown at us."
-
- Biden responded: "You're doing God's work."
-
- Biden and Sebelius both talked about their aging
parents, Biden about his 92-year-old mother's broken hip
and how her care was coordinated; Sebelius, who
speculated her 88-year-old father couldn't remember all
his medications, said an electronic record would help
his doctors get it straight.
-
- Of the stimulus money set aside for health
information, $598 million would establish centers to
help hospitals and clinics with technical aspects of
choosing systems. Another $564 million would be set
aside to help hospitals share patients' information.
-
- After the Chicago meeting, Mount Sinai Chief
Information Officer Peter Ingram said the grants are
good news for his hospital.
-
- "We are part way along the journey" in transferring
to computer records, Ingram said. "We need all the help
we can get in implementation."
-
- Sebelius plans to visit Ohio State University
Medical Center on Friday to discuss electronic medical
records there.
- __
- On the Net:
- Office of Health Reform:
http://www.healthreform.gov/
-
- (This version CORRECTS RECASTS; UPDATES with
Biden quotes other comments, background. corrects amount
to $598 million, sted $589 million for technical
assistance centers. ADDS background, byline.)
-
- Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights
reserved.
-
- Opinion
- ----
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