Some small U.S. companies are getting an influx in calls – and in some cases, unexpected business – due to fears about the Zika virus.
The virus often produces either no symptoms or mild ones like fever in adults, but an outbreak in Brazil has been linked to a rare birth defect that causes a newborn’s heads to be smaller and brain development issues. Outbreaks also have been reported in parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas.
Pest control companies in Texas are getting a surge in business because of concerns that mosquitoes bearing the Zika virus will arrive from neighboring Mexico. The companies are already spraying homes, schools and other properties; usually they don’t start until April.
Darryl Nevins’ Mosquito Joe franchise in Houston began getting an increase in calls last week after news reports of seven cases of Zika virus in the metropolitan area. None of the cases resulted from mosquito bites in Texas, the reports said, but people aren’t taking chances and want their property sprayed.
“It’s not just residential customers, what we primarily had in the past,” Nevins says. “Schools, day care, commercial customers with a park nearby are calling and asking, ‘What do we do to protect outdoor seating?'”