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Hot weather hatches hordes of mosquitoes
Jun 26, 2009 (La Crosse Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The weather has been ideal: heavy rain, followed by hot, humid and sunny conditions.
Ideal for mosquitoes, that is.
Adult pest mosquitoes have been extremely active so far, seeking humans for their blood meal, said Dave Geske, mosquito control officer for the La Crosse County Health Department.
"Mosquitoes are out there later at night in this hot, humid weather and they're looking for us," Geske said. "We've had some big hatches and now a lot of areas are booming with mosquitoes.
"But still the numbers really depend on the area," he said. "I wouldn't want to live by the Black River bottoms right now. It's been so miserable there with these conditions."
The third-wettest April on record in La Crosse made for ideal growing conditions for mosquitoes last year, but this spring was extremely dry and cool, Geske said.
"We were able to treat areas and we were in good shape, but then we started having pretty heavy rainfall. At one point the La Crosse River went over its banks and it spelled doom for us.
"It made for such huge areas we had to treat and we did an OK job," he said.
The expanded wetlands made it difficult to keep nuisance mosquitoes in check west of town of Campbell and between town of Shelby and Goose Island, Geske said. Pest mosquitoes can move miles, he said.
He and his staff plan to step up killing larva with environment-friendly bacteria or larvicide at many sites.
Geske said he has found disease-carrying mosquitoes in traps, including those that can transmit La Crosse encephalitis and West Nile virus.
Geske and his staff late last summer found a new mosquito species for the first time in La Crosse County -- ochlerotatus japonicus, which originates from Japan -- in storm sewers and a rock-based ornamental outdoor pond in Shelby.
Geske also has found the species in Caledonia, Minn., and Lynxville, Wis., and now will closely monitor Winona, where Minnesota health officials found it as well.
"This species will be a more efficient vector of West Nile virus than Culex mosquitoes, which have been identified as West Nile carriers, because it's a more aggressive human feeder," Geske said.
Geske recommends people empty any containers that can hold water and get rid of tires in yards. Boats can become perfect breeding places for mosquitoes this time of the year, he added.
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