UC Davis researchers say emergency room visits remained
stable during the last big Sacramento area-wide sprayings for West Nile virus
In what researchers say is the first public health study of the
aerial mosquito spraying method to prevent West Nile virus, a UC Davis study
analyzed emergency department records from Sacramento area hospitals during and
immediately after aerial sprayings in the summer of 2005. Physicians and
scientists from the university and from the California Department of Public
Health found no increase in specific diagnoses that are considered most likely
to be associated with pesticide exposure, including respiratory,
gastrointestinal, skin, eye and neurological conditions.