Douglas Alexander: “in the summer of 2001 there was an outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis in four parishes in northeast Louisiana. There…”

“in the summer of 2001 there was an outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis in four parishes in northeast Louisiana. There were 70 incidents resulting in 7 deaths. Seven of those incidents and two of the deaths were in parishes without mosquito control programs. In addition, in my district, Pointe Coupee Parish had the highest incidence of West Nile virus in Louisiana at more than 52 cases per 100,000 population. When I was chairman of the Louisiana Health and Welfare Committee, we met to discuss State efforts to coordinate mosquito control. One of the issues that we often discussed was the Federal funding that was available for testing and education, but it was not readily available for mosquito control. That is why I support the MASH Act, because it provides much needed Federal funding for control and education. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation which provides needed assistance to local governments to control the outbreak of mosquito-borne illnesses. I also commend the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. John) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) for their hard work on this issue.”