West Nile Virus And Mosquitoes It came as a big surprise to the health department in New York in August 1999, that they were dealing with an epidemic of West Nile Virus in the capital city of the United States. This is not remarkable, because it was the first time that WNV had been encountered in the USA. In fact, it was such a surprise that scientists first considered the outbreak to be St Louis Encephalitis or even a terrorist attack of some kind using disease. However, they soon nailed it as WNF and put the blame on the mosquito population of the area. That was in 1999 and every year since, the threat of the virus raises its head again. WNV can kill, but it is not likely to, particularly if one is aware of the threat and the symptoms and looks for help as soon as they can. There are several mosquitoes that can spread this infection, but the main one is almost certainly Culex pipiens molestus, which is almost certainly a new variant of the pipiens mosquito which was thought to just attack birds. Pipiens is now primarily responsible for St. Louis Encephalitis and West Nile Virus in humans; Western Equine Encephalitis (in horses}; Heartworm in dogs and bird malaria. Despite this impressive list of illnesses, it is normally referred to as 'the house mosquito', which appears to make light of the risk that it can carry. No one knows why it altered its habits from only birds to include man, horses and dogs. It is considered that C. pipiens fist bites an infected bird and then bites a mammalian host, where the bird's virus changes itself into something that can contaminate its new host. In this light, pipiens can be seen as a link between birds and mammals. C. pipiens is the most common mosquito in north-eastern cities in the USA and wherever it is, you can be certain that stagnant water is not long away. Not that it has to be much. A single female can lay 400 eggs in a half inch of water in one day. Therefore, if you would like to reduce your likelihood of being bitten by this (or any) mosquito, demolish their breeding grounds near your house. These include, but are not limited to: tin cans, buckets, old tyres, untended bird baths, clogged rain gutters, plastic wading pools, storm drains and catch basins, septic tanks and other foul water sources above or below ground. If you have a water feature in your backyard, populate it with guppies or goldfish, because these fish are known to like eating mosquito larvae. At the end of the year, spray your shed, garage and basement, because they will hibernate to escape dying in the frost if they can find somewhere appropriate In fact, the last generation of adult females mate and build body fat by feeding on carbohydrates before finding somewhere to overwinter. Their body metabolism slows
significantly and winter is spent in a state of virtual sleep. Females that survive the winter take a blood meal in the spring and lay eggs that initiate the summer populations. Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on more than a few topics, but is currently involved with finding a stop mosquito bite itch. If you want to know more, please go to our web site at Getting Rid of Mosquito Bites.