Some Facts about Mosquitoes

Perhaps the pest garnering the most recent bad press is the mosquito. Mosquito-carried diseases include malaria and dengue. Mosquitoes are also the prime carriers of several types of encephalitis, a devastating illness that attacks the central nervous system of humans. West Nile virus is one of these encephalitis types.

By the end of 1999, the virus had caused encephalitis in 62 people and numerous horses in and around New York City, resulting in 7 human and 10 equine deaths. The virus continued to spread in 2000 and 2001 - moving south as far as Florida and west to Wisconsin and Iowa. WNV will likely eventually occur throughout all of the United States.

According to Dr. Kimberly Thompson, a special risk analyst at the Harvard University School of Public Health, people must remember that mosquitoes are more than annoying, they may also carry disease. She warns, "Mosquitoes pose a very real threat, and we must actively seek to prevent the spread of disease wherever and whenever we can. Parents and caretakers responsible for children and the elderly must be particularly vigilant."

For parents who may question the use of pesticides and repellents to control mosquitoes, Dr. Thompson has a pointed response: "I would be much more concerned about the potential diseases one can acqutrire through mosquito bites than the risks of properly applied pesticides. The comparison is one of real deaths today versus hypothetical disease sometime in the future."

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