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Lack of rain continues to depress the numbers of nuisance mosquitoes in the Twin Cities.
The continued lack of rain keeps nuisance mosquito totals down for another week.
Every Monday night starting in mid-May through September, the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District sets out a variety of mosquito and black fly traps throughout the district and employs a network of sweep net collections done by employees and volunteers. Any insects collected are brought back to our lab on Tuesday to be identified throughout the week with maps published to show current mosquito and black fly activity.
With the continued lack of rain and much of the state of Minnesota under moderate or severe drought conditions, the number of nuisance mosquitoes throughout the Twin Cities remains low for the week of surveillance covering Monday, July 10th. With no significant rain during the past week, and not much forecasted over the next several days, it's unlikely we will see a noticeable spike in mosquito totals any time soon.
However, the lack of rain-dependent nuisance mosquitoes does not mean mosquitoes aren't thriving in Minnesota. MMCD assistant entomologist Dr. Scott Larson says one thing to note "from this week’s surveillance is that the number of Culex collected were rather high. In general, Culex species do quite well during a drought, so this isn’t really surprising. One gravid trap had 463 Culex! The CO2 network was also buzzing with Culex mosquitoes." Culex mosquitoes are the main vector of West Nile virus in Minnesota.
Here are the mosquito trap counts from last Monday, July 10th:
One new mosquito sample tests positive for West Nile virus in Hennepin County.
MMCD Vector Ecologist Kirk Johnson reports that one new mosquito pool tested positive for West Nile virus of the 38 samples tested. The mosquito pool that tested positive were collected from a gravid trap in eastern Hennepin County. To date, mosquito samples have tested positive for WNV in Anoka County (4), Hennepin County (1), Ramsey County (2), and Scott County (1).
Ensure you are protecting yourself from mosquito-borne disease by using bug spray, wearing long, light, and loose clothing, and avoiding the peak feeding times of dawn and dusk.
