Huddled around their hives, beekeepers around the south-eastern US fear a new threat to their livelihood: a fine mist beaded with neurotoxin, sprayed from the sky by officials at war with mosquitos that carry the Zika virus.

Earlier this week, South Carolina beekeepers found millions of dead honey bees carpeting their apiaries, killed by an insecticide. Video posted by a beekeeper to Facebook showed thousands of dead insects heaped around hives, while a few survivors struggled to move the bodies of fellow bees.

“This is what’s left of Flowertown Bees,” a despondent keeper says in the video. Company co-owner Juanita Stanley told the Associated Press her farm looked “like it’s been nuked” and estimated 2.5 million bees were killed.

In another Facebook post, South Carolina hobbyist Andrew Macke wrote that he had lost “thousands upon thousands of bees” and that the spraying had devastated his business. “Have we lost our mind,” he wrote, “spraying poison from the sky?”

Around the US, bees and other pollinators contribute an estimated $29bn to farm income. Clemson University’s department of pesticide regulation is investigating the incident.

The program head, Dr Mike Weyman, said that though South Carolina has strict rules about protecting pollinators, county officials were using the neurotoxin, Naled, under a clause exempting them in a “clear and public health crisis”.

More than three dozen people have tested positive for Zika in South Carolina, Weyman said, and officials have made it a priority to prevent local transmissions through the Aedes aegypti mosquito.



“We don’t want one of those mosquitos having a blood meal on an individual we’ve already determined was positive,” Weyman said. “We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that [Zika] is up and running in Florida. If it gets in the mosquito population ... you’re playing catch-up.”

South Carolina’s protocol for Zika infections is to alert local officials of a carrier’s residence, which they “consider a ground zero”, Weyman said. Local authorities then target the local mosquitos in a 200-yard radius, in this case with spray.

Flowertown Bees was listed on local records but not in the state’s voluntary registry of pollinators, according to Weyman. “We know where the big ones are,” he said, “but as you can see this was a fairly large operation and almost right smack dab in the spray path.”

Despite the investigation into what went wrong, the killing has beekeepers worried about what might happen next.

“Everyone that I’ve spoken to has major concerns about the effect” of insecticides, said Jennifer Holmes, vice-president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association and the co-owner of a company with about 300 colonies north of West Palm Beach.

Comparing bees to cows or other pillars of agriculture, she said: “If there was a regulation that allowed some spraying that would kill half of your livestock overnight, how would recover your livelihood?”

Holmes has spent the last week working with beekeepers and state and county officials. The keepers, she said, fear “not just the immediate die-offs, but possible genetic die-offs or sterility” for bees that survive the first sprays.

“We understand the serious threat of possible disease,” she said, “but we also have to maintain our agricultural livelihood.”

A Louisiana beekeeper, who requested anonymity because of work with county officials, added another set of concerns: careless mixture and application of chemicals, mismanagement and long-term imbalance in the ecosystem.

“In order to ‘fix’ the problem,” the keeper said, “it will all have to begin with re-establishing healthy soil that will nourish a healthy plant population that will nourish healthy populations, whether it be the honeybee or a deer.

“Chemical application of any sort creates an imbalance from the ground up, even if a simple mosquito is the target.”

‘We always have the environment in mind’

Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and independent universities say Naled is far safer than other chemicals. It breaks down rapidly and, in the very low doses at which it is prescribed, should not pose a risk to humans.

“In Louisiana, we use these products quite frequently to reduce mosquitos, but we don’t see many nontarget effects, because the doses are really small,” said Dr Kirsten Healy, a public health entomologist at Louisiana State University.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we always have the environment in mind. We try to have products that have the lowest possible impact.”

Even the mosquitos targeted “quickly bounce back”, she said. Healy recommended a multi-pronged approach: aerial and ground sprays along with removal of the trash cans, bird feeders and other containers where water pools and mosquitos breed.

Aerial sprays threaten other pollinators. Dennis Olle, director of conservation programs for the North American Butterfly Association, noted the effect of chaotic ocean winds near his office in Miami. “It’s aerial bombing without any sense of being able to lay the chemical down on the target,” he said.

Olle conceded that that he was not a scientist – he is an attorney – but described a 2015 Florida International University study that found Naled application was uneven and harmful to butterflies.

“It kills everything,” he said. “There’s no question that it is highly, highly deleterious to butterflies and other arthropods, even mammals in high enough doses.”

He agreed that door-to-door removal of breeding objects and hand spraying were effective techniques against mosquitos, but worried about repeated low doses of chemicals to both pollinators and his children.

“If they’re killing every mosquito, as they claim, everything else needs to be worried too,” he said. “That’s not rocket science, that’s common sense.”

Olle’s fears have sympathizers in Florida and Puerto Rico, where there have been, respectively, 35 and 13,791 mosquito infections of the Zika virus. Earlier this summer on Puerto Rico, doctors rallied against Naled when the CDC made a last-ditch plea to start spraying. Governor Alejandro García Padilla rejected the proposal in July, citing concerns over possible side effects on humans and other animals.

Puerto Rico was also the site of some of what limited Naled-mosquito research has been performed in the last 30 years. Dr Duane Gubler, a professor at Duke Medical School and an expert in infectious diseases, led that research and found that Naled had mixed results.

“It’s unpredictable,” Gubler said. “We did the whole city of San Juan and it appeared to be somewhat effective in some areas but not others.”

Aedes aegypti mosquitos, Gubler said, were especially difficult targets since they breed inside and under houses, in buckets, tires, puddles or any container with stagnant water.

“There’s some data from Florida that suggests it can be effective where Aedes aegypti mosquitos are primarily outdoor breeders,” he said, “but from my data, it was spotty.”

Like Healy, Gubler recommended a mix of techniques – targeting adults and larvae through habitats and sprays and a partnership between citizens and agencies. “It’s near impossible for any government agency to control all of the mosquitos,” he said.

“It’s a matter of weighing the benefits versus the risks,” he added, noting the critical place of bees, especially, in keeping crops growing.

“If you have to make a decision on whether it protects, say, your pregnant wife from being exposed versus killing a few butterflies, I suspect in most people’s minds it’s probably worth the risk.” </s> Millions of US bees die from spray to fight Zika mosquitoes

Beekeeper Juanita Stanley woke up stunned Monday morning when she realized the familiar buzz at her South Carolina apiary had gone silent.

In an effort to control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, authorities over the weekend doused parts of the southeastern state with the controversial pesticide Naled -- a dose that proved fatal to millions of bees.

"Our family business has been destroyed by the aerial spray," Stanley said on the Facebook page of her Summerville, SC apiary, Flowertown Bee Farm and Supplies. "Help us share the story, don't let our honey girls die in vain."

Along with her plea Stanley posted photos showing the clumps of dead bees and her team burning the boxes that had housed the hives.

According to the local channel WCSC, the apiary lost 46 hives and 2.5 million bees.

Dorchester County, which manages much of the town of Summerville, ordered the August 28 aerial spraying after detecting four confirmed Zika cases in the area.

"Dorchester County is aware that some beekeepers in the area that was sprayed on Sunday lost their beehives," said County Administrator Jason Ward in a statement, urging affected beekeepers to report their losses.

The controversial pesticide Naled has been used in the United States since 1959 as a common tool for mosquito control, despite concerns about its risks for human and environmental health.

The European Union prohibited its use in 2012, but the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assures it is safe if sprayed sparingly.

Ward said Dorchester County does not have any aerial spraying flights planned at this time, but emphasized that "aerial spraying is being utilized to supplement our mosquito ground spray trucks and larvae control programs in targeted areas."

"Dorchester County is concerned about the safety of its citizens," he said. "This includes protecting citizens from insect bites from pests such as mosquitoes that carry viruses including West Nile and Zika."

According to the US Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) the country has registered more than 2,600 cases of Zika, most related to travel abroad.

Zika is primarily spread by the bite of an Aedes aegypti mosquito.

The virus is linked to the birth defect microcephaly, which causes newborns' heads to be abnormally small, and rare adult-onset neurological problems like Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which can result in paralysis and even death. </s> (CNN) South Carolina beekeeper Juanita Stanley has a message to mosquito control officials who she believes are overreacting to Zika: "Stop. This is crazy. It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. The devastation that it has already caused is beyond comprehension. We can't live without these honeybees."

Last weekend, Stanley lost more than 3 million bees -- all 46 of her hives and her entire livelihood -- when Summerville officials decided to aerially spray a small area of the town for Zika-carrying mosquitoes.

Usually, officials spray for mosquito control by truck and at night, when bees are in their hives and beekeepers can better protect them. But this time, the county decided to spray aerially, just after sunrise on Sunday.

"There are 'no spraying' signs all over my property," Stanley said. "But my bees were poisoned from the sky."

The spraying occurred, Dorchester County Administrator Jason Ward said, because four people in the county had developed Zika while traveling to areas of the world where the virus is actively circulating. Summerville residents then expressed concern about the virus.

In fact, the only state with active mosquito transmission is Florida, and only in the Miami and St. Petersberg/Tampa areas.

So if no local mosquitoes in Summerville are carrying the Zika virus, why was it necessary to spray?

"We had historic rainfall, including a flood last October, where we've had standing water in areas where we have never had standing water," he explained. "Our winter this year was very mild, and we didn't have that real hard freeze. So the health of our citizens is of primary concern."

"Someone has a virus that they didn't get here, but what if, someday, maybe, they might?" she asked, her voice rising in outrage. "Let's just go kill everything in case someone might get it? Where is the logic in that?"

What is the official stance? The National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Bee Laboratory said they would not be commenting on the issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was more forthcoming.

"We do recommend mosquito control to be done around travel-associated cases as well as locally transmitted cases if the mosquitoes that spread Zika are in the environment," said entomologist Janet McAllister of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. "We don't want the virus to take hold in the local mosquito population."

Although Aedes aegypti is the most effective at transmitting the Zika virus, another more common mosquito in the United States is also capable of spreading the disease. It's called Aedes albopictus, and it's widespread in South Carolina.

"Our recommendations take into account both species," McAllister said, "just in case the disease starts to spread."

The nation's bees have long been stressed by the public's need for pest control.

"I've seen it with West Nile virus and after hurricanes and major flooding," entomologist Jeffrey Harris said. "I always tell the beekeepers that human health is always going to trump bee health, and if there is a natural disaster that increases a dangerous mosquito population, they are going to spray."

Harris runs the Honey Bee Extension and Research Program for Mississippi State University and is active in research on bees and how to best protect them from pesticides.

"Aerial spraying is a tough one," he said. "The recommendations are difficult to follow. While maximum foraging for bees is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., in the summertime, the bees are already out at dawn, when aerial spraying is recommended. So spraying in the morning is the worst thing they can do for bees."

Why not spray at night?

"That's not always possible," said Michael Doyle, who has run the Key West Mosquito Control District for five years. "Some districts can fly at night safely, but, for example, we cannot in Key West. We have to fly over water, and there isn't any light to guide the plane."

Doyle added that because the naled pesticide droplets are very small, there is really no way to avoid unprotected hives. The CDC's McAllister agrees.

"The mosquito control pesticides are targeted for tiny creatures," McAllister said. "They are very small droplets, about 15 to 25 microns in size, much less than the diameter of the human hair."

One of the best ways for beekeepers to help their hives during aerial spraying, Harris said, is to wet a breathable fabric and place it over the hive. It will also work when bees evacuate their hives in hot weather and form a "beard."

"Sometimes, a half of pound of bees will be hanging out together in a 'beard' outside their hives in the late afternoon, and they often stay there into the night," explained Harris. "We suggest getting wet burlap bags and hanging them over the hives so that the hive or the beard can't escape. The fabric picks up much of the pesticide and protects them."

But nothing will help if the beekeepers don't know that spraying is going to occur. That means all commercial and hobby beekeepers need to make sure they are registered with their local mosquito control districts.

"The mosquito control district needs to be good citizens of the environment and have good dialogue with local beekeepers," McAllister said, "and that communication has to be a two-way street. If they aren't registered, they can't expect mosquito control to know where their bees are so they can work with the beekeepers to protect them."

Many beekeepers aren't good at doing that, preferring to keep the locations of their hives private.

"Even professional beekeepers are very secretive about where they place their hives," McAllister said. "I don't understand it. It must be a competition thing with other beekeepers for the best flowers to make the most honey."

"It's a Catch-22," agreed Doyle. "They don't tell us where they are, but then we get blamed for killing bees."

Stanley was on her local mosquito control registry. In her case, the district didn't call her about the spraying. Local officials have apologized, but for Stanley, it was too little, too late.

"I used all of my resources to start this business, and I've lost everything," Stanley said. "You can't insure bees, and I had no backup plan. These little baby bees that I've lost, it's devastating." </s> (CNN) Predawn aerial spraying for Zika-carrying mosquitoes, set to begin Friday, is bugging out residents of Miami Beach, Florida.

But concerns about the consequences for human health and the environment may be overblown, according to experts.

Originally scheduled for Thursday, the spraying was delayed for a day after angry residents protested.

"Nobody's here bc they're afraid #zika we care abt organic solutions not poison. We're skeptical Gov Scott $ interest" #naled #miamibeach

Maria de los Angeles' tweet is typical of the concerns being voiced by residents: "Nobody's here bc they're afraid #zika we care abt organic solutions not poison. We're skeptical Gov Scott $ interest" #naled #miamibeach."

So far there have been 56 locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus in Florida , which has 20.6 million residents.

As of Thursday, there were also 596 travel-related cases of Zika in Florida. According to the CDC, there are 2,977 cases of the virus in the continental United States.

Here's what you need to know:

Why are they spraying?

Spraying is needed because the mosquitoes aren't gone yet even though authorities have sprayed on the ground.

A few days later, in an unprecedented move, the CDC announced a travel warning, advising pregnant women not to visit that area. Aggressive mosquito-control measures were taken, including mosquito spraying in the area.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised pregnant women not to travel to an area of Miami Beach limited to 1½ square miles. Scott said the area runs from the beach to the Intracoastal Waterway and from Eighth Street to 28th Street.

Pregnant women are at greatest risk because the virus can have devastating consequences for an unborn baby, including the birth defect microcephaly and other neurological deficits, as well as miscarriage and stillbirth among women who were infected while pregnant.

What are they spraying and how does it work?

The main ingredient of the insecticide, Dibrom, is the chemical naled.

The chemical kills mosquitoes on contact. Sprayers produce very fine droplets that are small enough to stay airborne and intercept mosquitoes in flight.

Naled spray droplets stay airborne for an extended period, and the chemical begins to break down once exposed to sunlight or water.

Very little of the low-concentration spray settles on the ground. Those who worry that they may have come into contact with the chemicals should wash, according to officials.

Any food that may have been exposed should be rinsed before eating. Since concentrations are far below what is harmful to humans, symptoms, such as skin irritation or headache, are unlikely.

Are there health risks associated with naled?

One South Florida resident quoted a coworker in a tweet as saying, "We're either gonna die of Zika or cancer."

In its own review of naled, however, the European Union came to a different conclusion.

Is this the first use of naled in Florida?

The Mosquito Control Section has applied naled via an ultra-low-volume spray for many years, officials said in a news release.

In fact, Dibrom has been used in the United States over the past 50 years, said Timothy J. Donnelly, vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel of AMVAC Chemical Corp., which makes the insecticide.

"It is regularly sprayed in 12 states on over 15 million acres each year," Donnelly said last month.

Miami-Dade County's aerial spraying alternates between naled and an insecticide called BTI (bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, a naturally occurring bacterium), which targets mosquito larvae instead of adult mosquitoes. BTI has been registered with the EPA since 1961 as a pesticide.

What are the environmental risks of aerial spraying?

On Thursday, a Twitter user described as a backyard bee keeper wrote, "@CDCgov Please stop the use of toxic NALED, it kills pollinators and wildlife and its toxic to environment."

"This is crazy," she said. "It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. The devastation that it has already caused is beyond comprehension. We can't live without these honeybees."

The spraying occurred, Dorchester County Administrator Jason Ward said, because four people in the county had developed Zika while traveling to areas of the world where the virus is actively circulating. Summerville residents then expressed concern about the virus. Zika is not actively circulating in South Carolina.

Still, Aedes aegypti, the main mosquito that carries and transmits the virus, has been found in small numbers in the nearby Charleston area, according to Ward.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the National Bee Laboratory declined to comment on the issue.

"We do recommend mosquito control to be done around travel-associated cases as well as locally transmitted cases if the mosquitoes that spread Zika are in the environment," said entomologist Janet McAllister of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. "We don't want the virus to take hold in the local mosquito population."

The truth is the nation's bee population has long been stressed by the public's need for pest control.

"I've seen it with West Nile virus and after hurricanes and major flooding," entomologist Jeffrey Harris said. "I always tell the beekeepers that human health is always going to trump bee health, and if there is a natural disaster that increases a dangerous mosquito population, they are going to spray."

Harris runs the Honey Bee Extension and Research Program for Mississippi State University and is active in research on bees and how to best protect them from pesticides.

"Aerial spraying is a tough one," he said. "The recommendations are difficult to follow. While maximum foraging for bees is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., in the summertime, the bees are already out at dawn, when aerial spraying is recommended. So spraying in the morning is the worst thing they can do for bees."

Since the variety of mosquito that carries Zika is most active predawn and at sunset, all spraying must take place at those times. Special precautions are not necessary, Miami-Dade County officials said, though people with allergies may want to remain indoors. During any insecticide operation, it is recommended that beekeepers cover their bees.

"When naled gets sprayed, it knocks out the mosquitoes, but if sprayed over water, it breaks down quickly," he said.

If the chemicals are rotated and managed properly, an environmental area can recover, Phillips noted. </s> S.C. County Sprays For Mosquitoes But Accidentally Takes Out Millions Of Bees

It wasn't meant for the bees.

The pesticide raining down from the sky in Dorchester County, S.C., was meant to kill mosquitoes — for the sake of safety, the county says. Mosquitoes, after all, can carry West Nile and Zika, and four cases of Zika were recently confirmed in the county.

But on Sunday morning, from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., as the county conducted aerial spraying, the bees fell by the millions.

"By Sunday afternoon," The Post and Courier newspaper reports, "thousands of bee carcasses dotted Andrew Macke's Spring House Lane property." The amateur beekeeper — also the fire captain of the town of Summerville — was at work when his wife called.

Beekeepers in Dorchester County sound downright apocalyptic when they talk about the impact of the spraying.

"We have a mass killing," Macke's wife told him.

"My bee yard looks like it's been nuked," Juanita Stanley, co-owner of Flowertown Bee Farm and Supply, told the Post and Courier.

Flowertown lost more than 2 million bees, Stanley says.

On Facebook, Flowertown posted photo after photo of piles of dead bees. The bee farm also posted images and videos of the burning of apiaries — which have to be destroyed now that they've been contaminated, the owners say.

Dorchester County says it provided sufficient notice to local beekeepers, with announcements sent to the local media on Friday morning and Saturday night.

But in a petition on Change.org seeking to call off the spraying, Dorchester County residents say the notices released Friday didn't provide any details on the type of pesticide to be used, and that requests for more information from the county weren't answered.

"This is both disturbing and frightening to many that live in the area that is to be covered," the petition reads. "There are live and privately owned beehives that are in this area and to the best of our knowledge, the chemicals to be used are toxic to honeybees."

Indeed, CNN reports that the county used a product containing naled, which is "highly toxic to bees," according to the manufacturer of the pesticide used.

The product is not supposed to be used "more than two hours after sunrise or two hours before sunset," a recommendation that Dorchester County Administrator Jason Ward says the county followed.

The county normally sprays for mosquito control by truck, not from airplanes. And it generally notifies beekeepers by phone or email — something the county says it also did in this case, CNN reports, although beekeeper Juanita Stanley says she didn't get such a message. Here's CNN:

" 'That's true when they sprayed by trucks; they told me in advance, and we talked about it so I could protect my bees,' Stanley said. 'But nobody called me about the aerial spraying; nobody told me at all.' "Stanley said she 'would have been screaming and pleading on their doorstep if they had.' " ' "Do it at night when bees are done foraging," I would have told them,' she added, breaking into tears. 'But they sprayed at 8 a.m. Sunday, and all of my bees were out, doing their work by then.' "

Dorchester County has apologized, the Post and Courier reports.

The county says on its website that no more aerial spraying is scheduled — and that if officials do spray again, they will send out notifications three to five days in advance and contact registered beekeepers by phone or email. </s> MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Aerial insecticide spraying to combat mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus is underway in Miami Beach.

A plane carrying the insecticide naled released the spray over the targeted area before dawn Friday. The next round is scheduled for 6 a.m. Sunday.

Some residents oppose the spraying, citing the potential for harmful effects. But county officials say the low concentration of naled won’t harm them.

“We are concerned that the naled actually has more of a potential risk of creating the problems we are trying to avert than the actual concern with Zika,” area resident Brik Viera said.

Local television stations reported that some parents kept their children home from school on Friday because of the spraying. The aerial spraying targets adult mosquitoes; different pesticides for larvae will be sprayed on the ground.

The touristy South Beach area of Miami Beach is the second site declared an active zone of Zika transmission by mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland. The discovery in August led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include a section of Miami Beach in a travel warning issued for pregnant women. Earlier in the summer, a travel warning was issued for Miami’s Wynwood arts district, which is popular for day trips.

South Beach also became the first place on the mainland where the virus was isolated in mosquito samples, with health authorities reporting last week that three batches of the insects tested positive for Zika. Florida’s agriculture department said Friday that one more batch from the area had tested positive. Statewide, an additional 2,900 batches of more than a dozen insects each have tested negative for the virus, state officials said in a news release.

Zika infection can cause severe brain-related birth defects, including a dangerously small head, if women are infected during pregnancy.

Of Florida’s 56 non-travel-related Zika cases, 11 have been traced to Miami Beach and 29 to Wynwood. The rest are being considered isolated cases and have not prompted authorities to issue warnings of local transmission. </s> (CNN) Planes completed aerial spraying for mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus early Friday in the Miami area, despite concerns over possible effects that the insecticide Naled may have on health and the environment.

Since the mosquito that carries Zika is most active at predawn and at sunset, all spraying must take place at those times.

So far, there have been 56 local transmissions of the Zika virus in Florida , which has 20.6 million residents. The state has seen 596 travel-related cases of Zika, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The virus can cause neurological disorders in unborn children

Health officials have sprayed pesticide and larvicide on the ground in areas where they believe the mosquitoes may be, and are expanding those efforts with the aerial use of Naled.

The spraying was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was delayed for a day after concerned residents protested.

Experts say there's no reason to be concerned over the effects of the insecticide on human health and the environment. The amount of insecticide used is minimal -- two tablespoons per acre -- about the size of a football field, according to the CDC.

"Aerial spraying using Naled and other insecticides has been used in many populated areas of the continental United States, including Miami, Tampa and New Orleans to help control mosquitoes," the CDC said on its website

Naled breaks down swiftly in water and sunlight, and its chemicals don't cause health problems in people or pets if used in small quantities, according to the CDC.

Sprayers produce fine droplets that are small enough to stay airborne and intercept mosquitoes in flight. It kills mosquitoes on contact.

But while US health officials say it's safe, Europe has banned the use of agricultural products containing Naled over safety concerns.

A few days later, in an unprecedented move, the CDC announced a travel warning, advising pregnant women not to visit that area. Authorities launched aggressive mosquito-control measures, including spraying in the area.

Last month, the CDC advised pregnant women not to travel to an area of Miami Beach limited to 1½ square miles.

Pregnant women are at greatest risk because the virus can have devastating consequences for an unborn baby, including the birth defect microcephaly and other neurological disorders, as well as miscarriage and stillbirth among women infected while pregnant.

In addition to human health, critics say Naled kills pollinators and wildlife, and is toxic to the environment. </s> MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Aerial insecticide spraying to combat mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus is underway in Miami Beach.

A plane carrying the insecticide naled released the spray over the Atlantic Ocean before dawn Friday.

The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/2cL57UF ) quotes Miami-Dade County officials as saying that on-board meteorological equipment was used to measure weather conditions and calculate a flight pattern that would allow the wind to carry the spray over the island.

The next round is scheduled for 6 a.m. Sunday.

Some residents oppose spraying, citing the potential for harmful effects. But county officials say the low concentration of naled won't harm them.

"We are concerned that the naled actually has more of a potential risk of creating the problems we are trying to avert than the actual concern with Zika," said area resident Brik Viera.

Local television stations reported that some parents kept their children home from school on Friday because of the spraying.

Aerial spraying targets adult mosquitoes; different pesticides for larvae will be sprayed on the ground.

South Beach is the second site of Zika transmission by mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland. The discovery in August led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include a section of Miami Beach in a travel warning issued for pregnant women. Earlier in the summer, a travel warning was issued for Miami's Wynwood arts district, which is popular for day trips.

Zika infection can cause severe brain-related birth defects, including a dangerously small head, if women are infected during pregnancy.

Of Florida's 56 non-travel-related Zika cases, 11 are associated with Miami Beach. </s> The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced Friday that it has detected Zika in another mosquito sample from the same small area in Miami Beach where it was announced on Sept. 1 that three other samples had tested positive for Zika.

All samples have consisted of Aedes aeqypti mosquitoes and are from an area where increased trapping and intensified mosquito control measures have already been underway since the Florida Department of Health determined local transmission had occurred.

There have been 571 reported cases of travel-acquired Zika cases in Florida so far. There have been 43 cases of locally-acquired infection in the Miami area.

For almost six months the U.S. Congress has failed to pass a funding bill needed to speed up research and control of the Zika virus, which causes a severe brain defect in unborn children called microcephaly or “tiny head” syndrome and causes Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults, which can be crippling as well as deadly.

There is no vaccine for Zika and no cure.

Mosquitoes, sexual contact with someone infected and contact with infected blood can transmit the virus to humans.

Some emergency funds from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been released, but the amount needed is not enough and not soon enough to stop the spread so far.

There have been 24 sexually transmitted cases reported in the U.S. so far.

“The fact that we have identified a fourth Zika-positive mosquito pool in Miami Beach serves as further confirmation that we must continue our proactive and aggressive approach to controlling the mosquito population, including our recent decision to begin aerial spraying in combination with larvicide treatment by truck,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. “We will continue to work in close collaboration with the health and environmental experts and the City of Miami Beach to keep our community safe from the Zika virus.”

On Friday the US Department of Health and Human Services issued the following update to national Zika statistics:

Zika Case Count: As of September 7, there were more than 18,800 confirmed cases of Zika virus in U.S. states and territories.
•2,964 confirmed cases of Zika in U.S. States and District of Columbia.
•15,869 confirmed cases of Zika in U.S. territories.

Pregnant women with evidence of Zika virus: As of September 1, there were more than 1,750 pregnant women with evidence of Zika virus.
•671 pregnant women in U.S. states and District of Columbia.

In addition, there have been 38 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome in the U.S. and U.S. territories.

For a state-by-state table of Zika cases in the U.S. visit: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/united-states.html
Over 3 million bees die in South Carolina after being exposed to pesticides intended for mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus.