With heavy rains and warmer temperatures comes mosquito season.
Mark Johnsen, Medical Entomologist with the Brazos County Health Department, said there are two types of mosquitoes.
- Flood water mosquitoes
- Standing water mosquitoes
Johnsen said flood water mosquitoes lay their eggs in soil, therefore after a heavy rain, they hatch at once causing a large influx five to seven days after the rainfall. These are annoyance mosquitoes, and will bite, but do not typically transmit disease.
Standing water mosquitoes typically arrive in the summer after water has stood still and turned stagnant.
“Our primary disease transmitting mosquito, the Southern house mosquito tends to be more of a problem in the late spring early summer which coincides with cases of West Nile virus. We have not received any mosquito complaints yet for this year but as the temperature rises so does the mosquito activity,” said Johnsen.
He advises proofing your house by making sure all window screens are not ripped, torn, or bent; covering (with screen wire) or treating all rain collecting devices using Bacillius thuringiensis israelensis (BTI) found in mosquito dunks; and using sodium vapor bulbs in outdoor lighting (attracts the least amount of flying insects).
You can also practice the four D’s:
- Drain all standing water
- Dress in loose fitting, long sleeved shirts and pants
- Dusk/dawn – avoid peak mosquito activity periods
- DEET – wear some type of mosquito repellant i.e. DEET , Picaridin, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus and IR-3535.
Click below to hear comments from Mark Johnsen visiting with WTAW’s Chelsea Reber.