Giuliani to Mosquitoes: Drop Dead

Let Us Spray! proclaim the New York Post and the Daily News headlines. As New York City hunkers down for an all-out attack on its outbreak of mosquito-borne encephalitis, news outlets around the city are reporting on developments with barely contained glee. Mayor Rudy Giuliani has taken to his role as high-powered exterminator with gusto, declaring at a news conference, The more dead mosquitoes, the better.

The St. Louis encephalitis strain, making a rare northeastern appearance, is blamed for the recent deaths of three elderly Queens residents. Health officials are investigating nine other confirmed cases in the city, and are keeping their eye on 60 more suspected infections. City officials and CDC representatives settled on the pesticide malathion shown to be harmless to humans at low concentrations as their weapon of choice. This week, helicopters began spraying the insecticide over Queens and Brooklyn, and by early next week, all five boroughs will be doused. Scores of worried residents are jamming city hotlines, and TIME science contributor Dr. Ian Smith is shaking his head at the rising paranoia. This situation has been totally science-fictionalized. Suddenly, everyones talking about Attack of the Mosquitoes. The risk of any one person being infected is actually very low, says Dr. Smith. Any expert will tell you that this disease is not a serious risk to the population at large. This outbreak is very geographically concentrated, and the population of mosquitoes carrying the virus is not large. We could be talking about two out of 1,000 mosquitoes here. Wear long pants, keep the bug spray handy, and drain that stagnant water, Dr. Smith advises, but keep your head, even if you do get a bite. You could be bitten by multiple infected mosquitoes and not develop the virus.