The Orkin Man Answers Government's Call For Help

By DANIEL YEE The Associated Press

Published: May 24, 2007

ATLANTA - When ticks caused an outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever at an American Indian reservation in Arizona, the nation's premier health agency called the Orkin Man.

Why? The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Arizona health department didn't have enough money and manpower to fight the bloodsucking insects on their own.

The federal health agency knew Orkin Pest Control - known for the Orkin Man, the tough, armor-clad exterminator featured in its TV commercials - could donate services that would dwarf what the health departments could spend on the outbreak.

In recent years, the CDC and other health agencies have been turning to pest control companies such as Atlanta-based Orkin and Memphis-based Terminix International Co. to contribute expertise and resources in emergencies nationwide. By doing so, Orkin gets access to the latest scientific information from the federal agency. In return, the CDC is able to tap into resources it doesn't have and can pass health messages through Orkin's employees.

"It's gotten to the point that whenever we have a large issue, ... we ask for their assistance," said CDC spokeswoman Abigail Tumpey on Orkin. "We basically speak with them practically once a month."

Orkin donated its services in the Arizona outbreak, sending out its chief entomologist and a crew of technicians. Orkin provided tick control to more than 350 affected homes, treated an additional 1,000 homes with chemicals, passed out 2,000 tick collars for dogs and taught four reservation members pest control methods.

"If they charged for their services, it would have come close to $200,000," Tumpey said of the April 2005 outbreak. "That basically tripled the amount of resources we were able to pour into the reservation, which was huge."

Although the federal agency has worked closely with the private sector in the past, CDC chief Julie Gerberding pushed to have the agency's divisions actively look for partnerships on health matters after she took over the agency in July 2002, said Lisa Koonin, the CDC's chief of public and private partnerships.

"We think it's a good way to amplify health," Koonin said.

Orkin's relationship with the CDC developed in 2004 as the West Nile virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, spread across the nation.

"We sought them out," said Orkin spokeswoman Martha Craft. "Our customers were asking our technicians about the West Nile virus, ... but we didn't feel like we were in the best place to give out information. They liked the idea" of teaming up to provide the public up-to-date information on the virus.

The company doesn't write off its donated services on its tax returns. It considers them a "normal business expense," Craft said.

"The reason we did those things was because CDC asked us to, and that's part of the collaboration," she said. "We have expertise that they don't have, and they have expertise that we don't have."

Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology at New York University Medical Center, said the efforts of pest control companies toward improving health benefit the public, even if many of their employees do not have formal training in public health.

"They're exercising their prowess for issues in their domain - ticks, controlling vermin and rodents - that's fine and excellent," said Tierno, author of the 2004 book "The Secret Life of Germs." "It's good to have private companies do things like this. ... It's sort of a give-back to society."