11/28/2011
The season is over, the cold air is moving in... time for the
holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

09/13/2011
Dry conditions of late as well as the normal die-off of nuisance
mosquitoes has significantly reduced mosquito annoyance in the
district. However, the incidence of WNV is still moderately
elevated in the species of mosquitoes that can transmit WNV.
Caution should be taken when out of doors especially at dusk or
dawn. In addition, be sure mosquitoes aren't able to enter the
house by checking window screens, and checking for gaps around
window air-conditioners and dryer exhausts. To date, we have
tested 1223 mosquito pools for WNV with 72 being positive.

08/16/2011
The large number of nuisance mosquitoes has peaked and are just
beginning to go down. However, while the number of WNV positive
mosquito pools is still low, they are beginning to increase. We
have tested 900 pools of mosquitoes and have had 12 positive pools.
We anticipate that number to rise. We will watch it closely to
determine if/when we should initiate adult mosquito control.

08/08/2011
The late July, early August rains have resulted in a large increase
in the number of nuisance mosquitoes in the Chicago area. We
continue to treat all of the mosquito sources in the district to
kill the mosquito larvae before they can become adults and disperse.
Unfortunately, the nuisance species of mosquito have a long flight
range and often travel 15-20 miles or more from where they came off
the water. Currently the WNV is beginning to increase in the area
although we have had very little activity within the district. We
continue to test mosquitoes for presence of the WNV virus. To date
we have tested 780 pools of mosquitoes with only 3 being positive
for WNV.

07/15/2011
Things have dried down considerably since the spring rains. The
nuisance mosquitoes are dying off so annoyance is decreasing.
With the hot and drier weather comes an increase in the potential
for West Nile Virus (WNV) amplification in the mosquito and bird
populations. We had our first positive pool of mosquitoes for WNV
on July 10th. Weather over the next several weeks will influence
how quickly and extensively WNV may become in the region.

05/12/2011
The cooler than normal spring has delayed the development of
mosquitoes this season. With warmer temperatures of late,
mosquitoes are developing in the water. With the heavy spring
rains, there is a lot of water available for mosquito development.
We have crews out treating the water to kill the mosquito larvae
before they become adults but inevitably there will be some adult
mosquitoes showing up soon. Fortunately they will be nuisance
mosquitoes without the treat of disease transmission.