West Nile Virus Is Here (and There and Everywhere)

Photo by Tanakawho

Although West Nile virus is usually a mild illness, it can become a serious, life-threatening illness. We wanted to share this story from the Chevy Chase listserv about what happened to one area resident. No good ever comes from mosquitoes. The Centers for Disease Control has useful information on how to reduce the number of mosquitoes in your neck of the woods. You might also want to read these tips to prevent mosquito bites from a previous article on All Life Is Local.

Mosquitoes Be Gone!

With the recent rain and precipitation and rain and more rain, mosquito season is in full bloom.  Recently posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv was this tip on dealing with the particularly pesky indoor variety of mosquitoes (you know -- the kind that forces you to seek shelter all night long underneath the covers.)

One of the best ways to get prevent mosquitoes (and other flying bugs) from bugging you is to deploy a fan, or fans.  Not only does the blowing air make it harder for mosquitoes to land on you, but the fan disperses your carbon dioxide, which is what mosquitoes are attracted to.  No CO2, no mosquito bites.  There's more about this low tech solution at Lifehacker 

And now, the Cleveland Park Listserv post:

For indoor use, try the LED Bug Trap (they say it works outdoors, but I've only used it in our apartment): 

http://tinyurl.com/2462re3

I bought our first one a year ago, added a second six months ago.   It's a small black space-aged ball with blue led lights around an opening at one end.  Mosquitoes are attracted to the blue light, and a silent internal fan sucks them in, where they are trapped in a mesh net.  This has worked great for us!  Not all the mosquitoes go there, but most eventually do.  You will have great satisfaction emptying the trap out and finding many dead mosquitoes.

We keep ours running all the time, though catch most when the mosquitoes come out in the evening.

The machine has vents in the back, and many of the mosquitoes, if not most, don't end up in the mesh net, but somehow are flung out the vents (dead from hitting the fan blades) and can be found around the unit for you to clean up.  (More satisfaction - victory over the mosquitoes!)

This really works!  I see it's on sale at Amazon for $22.