The swarms of mosquitoes spawned by warm weather and lingering floodwaters in Wisconsin are more blood-sucking nuisance than medical peril, health officials said Thursday.
Despite the announcement this week of the first animal cases of West Nile virus found in the state this year, officials do not believe there is a greater risk of mosquito-borne disease as a result of recent flooding in Wisconsin. Residents are advised to continue taking measures to prevent mosquito bites, however.
"I see no evidence of the disease occurring anywhere regionally or nationally linked to an increase in floodwater," said Paul Biedrzycki, director of disease control and environmental health for the Milwaukee Health Department.
This is because the mosquitoes hatched in floodwater are largely of the nuisance variety -- they feast on humans but aren't likely to spread West Nile virus or other mosquito-borne diseases, according to state entomologists.
Insect preference
The mosquitoes that do transmit West Nile from infected birds are Culex mosquitoes, which prefer stagnant rather than fresh water, said Phil Pellitteri, a University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist who runs the university's Insect Diagnostic Lab.
Biedrzycki said that as part of the city's West Nile prevention efforts, his department started treating about 5,000 catch basins with a larvicide effective in killing mosquito larvae through the summer and into October. The city targeted basins in areas where there is the highest risk of human exposure.
The department also set up about 20 mosquito traps around the area to determine the number and types of mosquitoes and whether they're infected with the West Nile virus.
Although it might be too early to determine the risk for West Nile virus, Pellitteri said, it is largely a "late-summer, early fall disease" as far as humans are concerned.
What you can do
Meanwhile, there are measures people can take to reduce mosquito bites.
Local health departments recommend that people wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors and wear insect repellent that contains at least 10% DEET or picaridin.
Also, people should repair window screens to keep insects out and eliminate stagnant pools of water from their yards.
Pellitteri compared getting mosquito bites to buying lottery tickets.
"If someone never buys the lottery, they can never win the lottery," he said. "If someone never gets a mosquito bite, they will never get a mosquito-borne disease." To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
