Two more communities have received ministerial orders from Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care to spray for adult mosquitoes with DeltaGard 20EW due to a risk of exposure to West Nile Virus, and one of those communities is in WestMan.
The Municipality of Boissevain-Morton has received an order to spray within an approximate 3.5-km radius of the intersection of Provincial Trunk Highway 10 and North Railway Street in the community of Boissevain.
“High temperatures across southern Manitoba have shortened the time required for West Nile virus to develop within infected Culex tarsalis mosquitoes and be transmitted to humans,” said the province in a release. “The province is currently in the highest-risk period for human exposure, which historically occurs between July 15 and Aug. 15 each year.”
According to the release, surveillance data from last week showed high numbers of adult Culex tarsalis mosquitoes and evidence of infection with West Nile virus. Mosquito counts exceeded the threshold for the province to begin adult mosquito control not only in Boissevain but in Morden as well, with an approximate three-kilometre (km) radius extension into the Rural Municipality of Stanley.
To date, there have been no human cases of West Nile virus confirmed in Manitoba in 2026.
