Dr. Michael Carroll
In a city whose history is rife with death from mosquito-borne disease, Dr. Michael Carroll is responsible for controlling West Nile Virus. He is a public servant whose expertise, vision, and innovation have saved lives, and we are fortunate indeed to have him in that role.
Since earning his Ph.D. at LSU in 1979, Dr. Carroll has worked on mosquito research and control projects for the governments of Jamaica, Honduras, Pakistan, Jordan, Romania, and other countries. He has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization and other national and international organizations. When four people died in Orleans Parish from West Nile in 2002, Dr. Carroll evaluated research data and control practices from all over the world. He consulted with his colleagues in New Orleans and his peers around the world. Drawing on his research, experience, and sound scientific judgment, he changed New Orleans’ approach to mosquito control.
Starting in 2003, Dr. Carroll led his department in an early and aggressive intervention to break the spread of the West Nile Virus in bird populations. Not waiting for warmer temperatures, as is common practice, the Mosquito and Termite Control Board started inspections and spraying in the first months of the year. This was an unproven strategy at the time, but it seems to have worked. There were no deaths in New Orleans from West Nile Virus in 2003 or 2004. Only one infection, of uncertain geographical origin, was reported in
2004.