News : Mosquitos are still here and so is West Nile, and now Jamestown Canyon virus

Mosquito larvae in stagnant water

Be aware, mosquito season isn’t over! The Iowa Department of Public Health just reported the first-ever case of Jamestown Canyon viral encephalitis in Iowa, a disease transmitted by mosquitos. Viral encephalitis is an infection causing brain tissue to swell and while uncommon, can be a side-effect of mosquito bites. The swelling can destroy nerve cells, cause bleeding in the brain and brain damage.

While only about 1 in 5 people who are infected with West Nile virus will develop a fever with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash, the fatigue and weakness can last for weeks or months.

Those little puddles around the house, bird baths, sandbox toys, and other small “pools” are great places to breed your own flock of mosquitos. Some simple tips can protect you and your loved ones while we wait for the first frost to do away with these flying pests until next year.

First, empty those little pools. This includes dog dishes, kiddie pools, buckets, cans: in short, any water that can remain standing for more than three or four days. Most mosquitos stay close to home, rarely traveling more than a mile from where they’re born. That’s right; those biters on your deck probably came from quite nearby.

Second, cover your skin with pants and sleeves, and use a strong insect repellent when going outside, especially at dusk or dawn. Female mosquitos search for blood meals to provide the protein needed for a batch of eggs. They deposit a “raft” of eggs in stagnant water, most commonly at night. That’s why they start biting in earnest as the sun is going down.

Use repellents with DEET, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus, but always read the label before using these products on children. For example, DEET should not be used on infants less than 2 months old and oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children younger than 3 years of age.

Interesting mosquito facts:

The larvae get oxygen through tubes protruding back from their abdomen. A thin coat of an oily substance on the surface can keep their tubes from breaking through.

Each female can lay as many as 500 eggs during their lifecycle.

Some mosquito species can deposit eggs on the ground and the eggs will survive until wet weather the following year.

Only females draw blood and the blood is used for growing eggs.

Click on the hyperlinks for additional information on West Nile virus, or to see information about Iowa's case of Jamestown Canyon virus.