Jul 11, 2006 11:11 pm US/Mountain
Officials Show How To Protect Against West Nile
by Mike Hooker
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Recent rains made Larimer County health officials warn residents to get rid of any standing water around their homes to keep the West Nile virus at bay.
Mike Doyle of the Larimer County Health Department said residents should dump or treat standing water because that's where mosquitoes reproduce.
"This combination of leaves and water is the perfect ingredient to grow West Nile virus," Doyle said.
Residents should "mosquito-proof" their yards and be aware of standing water around the neighborhood.
"If there's houses for sale that may have something like this in their back," Doyle said. "If there's houses for rent, vacant for any reason, one pond like this could supply mosquitoes for the whole neighborhood."
The rain had mosquito control crews checking for larvae in anticipation of a mosquito boom.
"When we get the flooding into those grasses like that, that's where a lot of the flood water eggs are deposited and get activated to start hatching out again," said Anthony Zamora of Colorado Mosquito Control.
In the newly flooded area, Zamora found several tiny mosquito babies where there's likely soon to be many more.
"Probably here within a couple days they'll start to hatch out," Zamora said.
Colorado health officials reported two human cases of the West Nile virus so far this year.
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