Disease-carrying mosquitoes on the rise, overall numbers down

Regina residents can thank the hot, dry and windy weather over the past few weeks for the pleasure of enjoying summer evenings minus the swarms of mosquitoes.

According to Russell Eirich, the city’s manager of forestry and pest control, this week there were about 16 mosquitoes counted in each trap, which is extremely low compared to the average of 164 in other years.

Even without the swarms of buzzing pests hanging around, he noted it’s still important for people to protect themselves.

“One in three mosquitoes are the Culex mosquitoes, which are typically the disease-carrying mosquitoes,” he said.

Eirich added none of those mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile within the Regina area at this point.

The province has detected the virus in other areas and considers the risk to be moderate between Regina and Saskatoon.

Eirich said this particular week usually marks a major spike in mosquito populations. In fact, it was on this week 25 years ago that the city counted 4,000 mosquitoes per trap, which led to the start of the mosquito control program.

City crews continue to treat standing bodies of water in certain areas within the control zone around town.

There have been no new cases of Dutch elm disease detected in the city in the last few weeks,  after five cases were found in the first part of July. Eirich said this is on par with the average and, typically, the majority of infected trees are found in July with a few stragglers later in the summer.