Quarantines

Signaling further spread of the invading fire ant, a state quarantine was declared Thursday in small portions of Los Angeles and Riverside counties where the swarming, biting pest has been detected. The action came just one week after all Orange County was placed under quarantine in hopes of controlling the ant, a South American native that can hurt people, livestock and wildlife. More than 50 square miles of Orange County are known to be infested with the ants.

A 59-square-mile quarantine will continue through mid-December, as agriculture officials contend with a second generation of Oriental fruit flies emerging in the zone, they announced Wednesday. The quarantine, imposed in August in an attempt to wipe out an infestation, was supposed to be lifted next month.

State agricultural officials Wednesday ended a quarantine on the Oriental fruit fly in a 116-square-mile area centered in Santa Ana that went into effect in July. Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura said the insects had been eradicated. The quarantine was declared July 13 after area authorities found fruit flies, which can ruin some 230 varieties of produce by filling them with their eggs.

Another dairy herd in Washington state was placed under quarantine after at least one animal was linked to a Holstein cow infected with mad cow disease, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. The USDA said at least one member of the infected cow's herd was sent to a dairy facility in Quincy, Wash. "USDA believes that as many as seven animals may have been sent to this facility," it said in a statement. The USDA has been investigating the nation's first case of mad cow disease, discovered Dec.

Toxic bacterial counts caused by ongoing sewage spills dipped dramatically Wednesday, prompting San Diego County health authorities to say that they may lift a 20-mile quarantine of area coastline as early as Friday morning. For the first time since the rupture of a massive sewage outfall pipe Feb. 2, bacterial readings fell below the legal limit, except at the tip of the Point Loma Peninsula, said Ruth Covill, a spokeswoman for the San Diego County Department of Health Services.

A quarantine on the movement of fruits and vegetables from the area around Los Angeles International Airport has been lifted following the eradication of peach and melon fruit flies, it was announced Monday. County Agricultural Commissioner E. Leon Spaugy said the pests, which threatened local fruit and vegetable crops, were "officially eradicated from Los Angeles County" last Friday, ending a months-long problem.

The federal government on Friday expanded the size of an agricultural quarantine area in Los Angeles County by 70 square miles because of the discovery of more Oriental fruit flies, officials said. The quarantine restricts shipment of fruits and vegetables. Oriental fruit flies can damage 200 types of citrus fruits, vegetables, nuts and berries but do not pose the same danger as the Mediterranean fruit fly.

An unofficial quarantine of fruits and vegetables has been instituted in a 79-square-mile area of Orange and Los Angeles counties to eradicate the Oriental fruit fly. Agriculture officials have put quarantine rules into effect pending their formal approval in Sacramento, a move anticipated early next week, said Bill Callison, chief of the state Department of Food and Agriculture's pest exclusion branch.

Two Rottweilers that mauled a 6-year-old boy as he played in the street are being quarantined by their owners while animal control officers determine whether the dogs should be declared vicious, police said. Victim Jeffrey Kerley is recovering from numerous bite wounds to his arms, legs, abdomen, back and buttocks, said his sister, Michelle Barker, 15. "He can't walk yet, but he's doing much better," she said. "He got his bandages taken off and there is no infection, but his leg looks gross.