Warm weather, Irene, could mean serious mosquito problem in summer

One drawback of the warm winter weather local residents have experienced this year is the appearance of mosquitoes.

They voracious, biting insects do not typically appear until late spring or early summer, but with days of temperatures in the 50s and 60s lately, they have made an early entry.

“If people are experiencing increased mosquito activity this time of year, it’s because the warm weather is allowing the adult mosquitoes to be active,” said Lenoir County Health Director Joey Huff.

Huff told the county’s Board of Commissioners this week the rains from last summer’s Hurricane Irene left standing water for mosquito eggs to hatch in, and the lack of cold weather this winter is giving them opportunity to remain active and lay more eggs.

“I’m certainly going to expect, if we don’t have any cold weather to kill some of the adults that are still surviving, we could have a pretty tough spring and summer with the adult mosquitoes that we have continuing to lay eggs, as well as the eggs that were laid after the hurricane that we had,” he said.

The city of Kinston is set to receive a little more than $2,600 in state grant funds through the county health department for mosquito control.

Rhonda Barwick, Public Services director, said the city has received $5,000 to $6,000 in the past for mosquito control, but has not received any state money in recent years to help combat the insects.

She said the state funds supplement Environmental Services fees paid by city utility customers toward “vector control.” The city budgeted $40,300 for vector control in the current fiscal year.

“Unfortunately, I think the pieces are coming together that we could have a large population (of mosquitoes),” Barwick said.

Peter St. Louis, vector control technician for the Public Services Department, said the mosquito eggs laid since the hurricane won’t be a problem if the weather remains dry between now and spring.

He said a lack of rain will deny the eggs the standing water they need for the larvae to hatch.

“If we get the rain and the temperature is right, within seven to 10 days we’ve got a full-grown mosquito flying around,” St. Louis said.

He and other city workers will place larvicide pellets in pools of water, and spray insecticide around the city around June.

St. Louis said it is critical for residents to control standing water on their properties as well, such as keeping containers empty, filling in divots in the ground, removing old tires, and more.

He said it takes “very little water to contaminate an area with mosquitoes,” as a bottle cap filled with water can produce about 300 mosquitoes.

“Most of the time, the contamination of the city is due to residential containers,” he said. “It’s not woodland pools so much.”

Mosquitoes can also transmit diseases to humans, including West Nile Virus, St. Louis encephalitis, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and Lacrosse Encephalitis.

Huff said those diseases have not been reported in Lenoir County recently, though.

He stressed that even if the weather remains dry between now and spring, there will still be increased mosquito activity.

“We can expect increased mosquito activity because of the adult mosquitoes that are surviving through the winter,” Huff said.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

Breakout:

Methods for keeping mosquitoes away:

- Citronella candles

- Fabric softener sheets pinned to your clothing

- Flowers and plants that repel mosquitoes: catnip, marigolds and rosemary

- Insect repellent such as DEET

- Mosquito netting

- Remove standing water from your property

- A spritz of lemon, eucalyptus oil and water

- Wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts when outside

Source: eHow.com; Joey Huff, Lenoir County health director