Las Cruces homeless population concerned about West Nile virus
Health officials say the biggest risk for West Nile vIrus comes from being around standing water, where mosquitoes lay most of their eggs.
For the homeless population, avoiding those areas is not always an option.
At the Community of Hope in Las Cruces, the homeless have limited resources, but they do the best they can with what they have.
In the tent city, homeless people are fortunate enough to have tents to protect them at night.
However, the lot is surrounded with standing water – a fact that causes concern about mosquitoes and West Nile virus.
Behind the dumpsters, tent city residents have an area where they can bathe or wash off with a hose. A lot of that water collects in the grass, creating the perfect breeding zone for mosquitoes.
“We try to put any oils or mosquito rings you can buy in any standing water we see around tohopefully exterminate some of the mosquito problem,” said Nicole Martinez, the executive director for the Community of Hope.
Add that water to the ditch that runs just behind the lot, and people in the area could have a higher risk of getting the virus.
“It’s been getting worse this lastmonth. The beginning of the summer, the mosquitoes weren’t so bad, but Iknow a lot of people have been complaining here in the middle of thenight that they bite your feet,” said Matt Mercer, a homeless man who lives at the tent city.
Tent city resident Dother Sykes told ABC-7 he’s not too worried about the disease because he has a tent to stay in at night.
When the sun goes down, the mosquitoes are rampant. All Sykes and the others can do is get inside, grab their bottles of repellent and keep their tent doors closed.
“We’ve seen a lot of thehomeless come here with bug bites all over,” Martinez said.
“I know that unless you’re dousing yourself with bugspray every night that it’s potentially a threat,” Mercer said.
Chris Minnick from the New Mexico Department of Health said homeless people need to be careful where they set up camp.
“People who are more susceptible to the disease are people whoare going to be around standing water, where there’s going to be ahigher concentration of mosquitoes,” Minnick told ABC-7.
The Community of Hope is accepting donations of bug spray and bite relief products. They hope educating the homeless population and providing them with these items will help prevent an outbreak of the disease in a population that could have a higher risk.
