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Maricopa County Could Change Mosquito Control To Better Prevent Zika

Maricopa County Health Director Dr. Bob England is meeting with the Board of Supervisors Monday to discuss Zika Virus.

England wants to change how the county deals with the mosquito that carries Zika virus. That’s because the Aedes aegypti mosquito is not effectively controlled using fogging trucks. County workers have to access someone’s property and spray the area.

"To do that works great if you have consent of all the property owners, but our current issue is that if we can’t get consent, because the property, then our current process requires 7-10 days of legal steps to enter that property," England said.

England said getting permission to enter the property can become an issue if it’s vacant, for example. The number of confirmed Zika cases is on the rise in the U.S., now up to more than 6,400.

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KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.