Warm Weather Brings Mosquitos And West Nile Fears

CLARK COUNTY  ENVIRONMENT 

By April Baer

Portland, OR  June 24, 2008 11:28 a.m.

It's time again to break out the bug repellant. As the weather warms up around the Northwest, health departments start thinking about mosquito control.

Over the past few years, West Nile Virus has afflicted a handful of people in the region. It's not usually dangerous, but can be serious for older people, small children, or anyone with a compromised immune system.

Jonnie Hyde with Clark County's Public Health Department says there's a lot you can do to keep mosquitos from taking over your yard.

Jonnie Hyde: "Empty standing water from flower pots, barrels, cans, anything outside. Check for clogged rain gutters, discarded tires -- anything that provides a consistantly wet habitat."

Hyde advises staying inside at dawn and dusk, or wearing long sleeves and slacks and mosquito repellant.

Clark County and several other regional governments have been doing some mosquito control with larvacides. But Hyde says counties have to rely on citizens to keep and eye on potential trouble spots.

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