June 2017 Update

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DRAGON MOSQUITO CONTROL
JUNE 2017 UPDATE           

        The good news is: we haven’t found any mosquitoes in NH that are known vectors of ZIKA virus. The bad news: we’ve found a lot of mosquitoes. That isn’t surprising given the abundance of rain fall this season. The population of mosquitoes that hatched this spring is robust. The mosquitoes that hatch early are not a public health threat. Early spring mosquitoes are a biting nuisance but are not carrying diseases. 

            One mosquito species that hatches in July will drive you indoors at sunset. This common mosquito readily enters your house and keeps you awake at night when you turn out the lights to sleep.  It eventually dies down in August but can linger well into September. It is difficult to control through the use of common larvicide methods. Adulticiding, or fogging, is often the only way to effectively control this species. This mosquito together with deer flies, horse flies, greenhead flies and midges help make July the buggiest month of the summer.

            Treatment of catch basin mosquitoes has begun. There are four species of mosquitoes commonly found in catch basins. All four are carriers of West Nile Virus and three carry Eastern Equine Encephalitis. These same mosquitoes can be found in containers in your yard. Be vigilant and dump out or remove anything that holds water such as tires, tarps, wheel barrows, canoes, trash cans, etc.

            Now that the adults are on the wing, trapping has begun. Traps are set in fixed locations throughout town each week. The catches are brought back to our headquarters where they are frozen, sorted, identified to species and pooled into tubes which are sent to the State Lab in Concord for disease testing. The State begins testing in July. Only select species are accepted for testing. The State Lab stops testing mosquitoes by mid-October.

            This year, a new trapping system has been employed to monitor towns for the presence of ZIKA mosquitoes. Neither of the two ZIKA mosquitoes has been found in NH but one species could migrate here from Massachusetts or be brought here via transportation methods such as cars, trains, boats and airplanes or in cargo trucked in from southern states.

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah MacGregor
President
Dragon Mosquito Control
www.dragonmosquito.com