Mosquito Awareness Week

Buzz Strong As Mosquito Fears Rise
Mosquito Awareness Week Calls Attention To West Nile Virus

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Mosquitoes and warm weather go together, and with it comes the increased threat of contracting the West Nile virus.
The California State Legislature has deemed this week Mosquito Awareness Week, and is asking people to take measures to cut down on risks.
"Especially with this warm weather followed by the rain, this makes for the perfect mosquito breeding time," Luz Maria Rodriguez from the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District said.
"We ask that at least once a week you go around your yard and and empty or dump any standing water that may collect in any household -- containers, buckets, tires, wheelbarrows -- anywhere where mosquitoes can grow," Rodriguez said.
All they need is a capful of water to breed. Mosquitoes are most often out at dawn and the first two hours after sunset.

The top three things to do to cut down on bites are:
Wear long pants
Wear long-sleeved shirts
Wear insect repellant that contains DEET

Vector Control also grows mosquito fish that primarily feed on mosquitoes. They're placed in rice fields, agricultural ponds and in abandoned swimming pools in foreclosed homes. The district offers help for those who know of a neglected pool.
"It's been very effective. We've been able to go to swimming pools that have been abandoned and put the mosquito fish in," Vector Control fisheries supervisor Demetri Dokos said. "Technicians go back in a couple of months later and the mosquito fish are there and the mosquito larvae aren't."