Calgary calls on province for West Nile help

The provincial government needs to help cities fight the West Nile virus, Mayor Dave Bronconnier said on the heels of two more birds testing positive for the disease.

Bronconnier says he has asked the province over the past four months to participate in a larviciding program, especially outside the city limits. The city has expanded its larviciding program this year to try to combat the arrival of the virus.

"We're encouraging the minister of health to re-consider his earlier decision not to participate with the City of Calgary in terms of larviciding these further areas," Bronconnier said.

Thursday, the Calgary Health Region said two crows one found in Calgary and the other in High River had tested positive for West Nile virus. They bring to four the total found in the province to date the first two were magpies from Camrose and Medicine Hat. The virus has also been found in mosquitoes in the Brooks area.

Bronconnier says mosquito control is no longer a pest issue, but a health concern.

"Unfortunately, the province of Alberta has not agreed to participate with us on an expanded program outside the City of Calgary," he said. "It's more than just educating Calgarians to put on Deet and wear long sleeves, that they should really, actively be working with our department and spraying these species."

He estimates it will cost more than $500,000 to expand the spraying program to the outskirts of the city.

Experts predicted the West Nile virus would hit Alberta this summer. It has been moving west since it was first found in Canada two years ago, in a bird in Ontario.

Birds in the crow family are usually the first indication the virus is in an area.

Health officials say the mosquito that carries West Nile isn't the most common type of biting mosquito in the province, and the chances of developing the disease, even if bitten, are slim. However, they say it's only a matter of time before a human does contract West Nile.

West Nile has symptoms similar to the flu.

Related story: Ontario reports human case of West Nile