Heavy Rain Means More Mosquitoes

For Michigan mosquitoes, soggy weather is like an all-inclusive package at a racy resort -- free food and drinks, luxurious waterfront lodging and fertile opportunities for procreation.

So, expect a skeeter baby boom next month.

"It's going to be horrible, a bumper crop," said Dr. Richard Merritt, a professor of entomology at Michigan State University. "There's standing-water habitat all over the place, and it's nice and cool, so nothing's drying out. Next month, the little buggers are going to come out."

All that can save us is an unseasonable 24-hour freeze -- an aberration you'll only see in the new Hollywood disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow."

But there is a silver lining: The mosquitoes responsible for West Nile virus -- called culex mosquitoes -- may be less plentiful.

That's because the culex clandepends in large part on standing water in storm drains, rather than swampsor backyard depressions, to lay and hatch eggs. With the deluge of rain in recent weeks, water coursing through sewers hasn't had time to sit around and play maternity ward.

"That's one good thing you can say. The water's flushed out all the storm drains," said Thomas Putt, president of the Michigan Mosquito Control Association. He said many municipalities are delaying storm drain treatment designed to kill culex larvae until later.

Methods to keep from getting bitten include elaboratedevices such as Swatter III, the Mosquitonator -- a tennis racquet-shaped bug weapon that promises to send up to1,500 volts though its wire-mesh killing surface from a pair of AA batteries.

"Be the life of the party, and death to all bugs," its Web site promises.

But if your backhand is weak, you can try the more commonsense approaches touted every year bysavants from the swamps of Florida to the blackfly-infested forests of the Upper Peninsula.

First, because mosquitoes typically don't roam far from their birthplaces, homeowners can take steps to make an inhospitable environment for them by removing any standing water.

Check birdbaths, old tires, buckets, wading pools, clogged gutters and other places where water accumulates and empty them every few days.

When venturing out, don long sleeves, long pants and hats; limit activity at dusk and dawn, when the bugs are most active, and use a mosquito repellent.

Repellents with the chemical DEET are most effective, though many pediatric experts advise using products with a 10-percent or less DEET concentration on children.

Finally, hope for an early summer dry spell that could spell relief fromthe August generations of mosquitoes.

"That could help, but for now there's no hope," Merritt said this week.

"It's a simple rule of thumb," agreed Putt. "More rain, more mosquitoes. It's that simple."