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Well, not exactly.
Mosquitoes carrying encephalitis and West Nile virus are popping up in
the area, despite the dry weather.
Those mosquitoes are finding plenty of water left from Thursday’s rainfall to hatch eggs in ponds, storm sewers and open containers, said Dave Geske, mosquito control officer for the
La Crosse County Health Department.
The dry July did dramatically slow activity by non-disease-carrying mosquitoes, Geske said. But tires, ponds and open containers still can hold enough water for the triseriatus mosquitoes that transmit La Crosse encephalitis to breed.
Culex mosquitoes, which carry the West Nile virus, “like it when pools of water are starting to dry up with a lot of organic material,” Geske said. “Containers and storm sewers also hold water for a long time after a rainfall.”
Geske said he has found many of the disease-carrying mosquitoes in children’s wading pools and boats.
“Boats with no water drainage are an ideal habitat for these mosquitoes,” he said.
The peak months for La Crosse encephalitis and West Nile virus are August and September.
A study recently published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal showed 82 percent of the West Nile cases in Wisconsin from 2002 to 2006 occurred in those two months.
The study identified 114 confirmed cases, including seven deaths, since 2002. Last year, La Crosse County reported its first human West Nile virus case, a 70-year-old La Crosse man who had been hospitalized. Geske also reported another human West Nile case last summer, a 70-year-old West Salem, Wis., man, but it was not counted as a case because he had no symptoms.
No cases of West Nile have been confirmed in Wisconsin in 2007. A Polk County woman was Minnesota’s first West Nile case of the year in late June. The Centers for Disease Control have reported 122 cases nationwide this summer.
No encephalitis cases have been reported in the
La Crosse area in 2007; four La Crosse encephalitis cases, none in La Crosse County, were reported in western Wisconsin last year.
Although he admits the La Crosse area could use more rain, Geske said he sighs and throws his hands up in the air during a good rainfall.
“It always means a lot of work,” Geske said. “It’s hard to keep up with all the mosquitoes, and we can’t control when they fly into an area. But it’s all about climate and habitat, and we battle nature every summer.”
How to eliminate breeding sites
Source: La Crosse County Health Department
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
