Nahant health agent warns of mosquito risks

NAHANT-All the snow and rain the North Shore has received this winter could increase the mosquito population this summer, Health Agent John Coulon said.?The current thinking is this is going to be a big year for mosquitoes,” he said. “We’ve had quite a bit of rain and snow so there is a lot of water available for mosquitoes to breed in.”Coulon said there are thousands of varieties of mosquitoes and many species are innocuous but those that pose a hazard to public health breed in standing water.?There are more than 50 species of mosquitoes in Massachusetts,” he said. “Only a handful of species are connected to diseases that affect humans.Mosquitoes that carry Eastern Equine Encephalitis breed primarily in marshy areas and the mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus have a preference for standing water.”Coulon said anything that holds a cup or more of standing water offers a fertile breeding ground for the disease-carrying mosquitoes.?People need to check their yards and areas around their homes,” he said. “Old tires, buckets and anything else that can hold standing water should be removed.”Coulon said he recently received the Northeast Mosquito Control Project Management Plan for Nahant and one component of the management plan is larviciding catch basins.Coulon explained the larvicides are effective in controlling mosquitoes. He said the treatment used to kill the larva in the catch basins and storm drains is very use-specific and it is a bacteria that is only harmful to insects, including mosquitoes, that breed in a specific way.He said as mosquito season gets underway, the Northeast Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District would set up traps in town and monitor the mosquito population based on information it collects from mosquito traps. Coulon said the capture of mosquitoes closely associated with the West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis or the capture of mosquitoes that test positive for disease would determine what other mosquito control measures would be implemented during the summer.