Summer 2023

BzzzzzzSmack!

It’s probably one of your least favorite sounds of summer, but the high-pitched hum of a mosquito—and the awful, itchy welt that usually follows—is an unfortunate fact during the warmer months in Southern Nevada.

With this year’s record-setting rains throughout the southwest, Vivek Raman, supervisor of the Health District’s Vector Surveillance Program, is expecting a very busy season for the pests. A female mosquito can lay hundreds of eggs in just an inch or two of water, and the mosquitoes that hatch can carry harmful viruses they can pass onto humans when they bite.

Environmental Health Specialists from the Health District set traps at parks, wash channels, private residences, wetland areas, plant nurseries and other potential breeding sites across the valley to capture hundreds of mosquitoes during the summer. The mosquitoes are sorted by species and location and tested for viruses like West Nile Virus, Zika and Dengue, providing important insight into areas where this nuisance might become an outbreak.

“We want to prevent diseases like Dengue and Zika from becoming established here,” said Raman, “so we have to know about mosquitoes carrying them as soon as we can.”

Raman says a partnership with the public can be one of the Health District’s most effective tools in curbing mosquito-borne disease. When a sprinkler-filled splash pool or standing water from a leaking irrigation pipe can become a haven for mosquitoes, homeowners knowing how to prevent breeding sources by “tipping and tossing” can make all the difference.

• Learn more about our program to monitor mosquitoes in Southern Nevada
• Watch videos about the different tools we use to catch mosquitoes

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