New Jersey is known as a high-risk area for diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes, such as Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and potentially the Zika virus. Fortunately, we can help you combat these pests with our tick and mosquito control services. Our products are safe for children and pets while remaining effective.
Statewide, 632 mosquito pools have tested positive for West Nile this year. Bergen has had the highest number of mosquito pools test positive, followed by Hudson County.
In all there have been 8 West Nile cases in New Jersey this year and the one reported death, along with one asymptomatic blood donor, compared with 20 cases in all of 2022. The other cases were in Middlesex and Camden counties.
Mosquito Control inspector Walter Jones inspects for mosquito larvae at a wetland in Lincoln Park.
About one in five people who are infected with West Nile develop a fever with other symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people with visible symptoms due to West Nile virus recover completely, but fatigue and weakness can last for weeks or months.
Cases of other mosquito-borne diseases in the state so far this year include 46 incidents of malaria, 28 of dengue and 8 of chikungunya, which causes fever and joint pain. There have been no reported cases of Zika.
With New Jersey's relatively wet summer weather you may have noticed more mosquitoes nipping at your arms and legs in recent weeks. With summer coming to a close, when will the mosquitoes leave us alone?
Of the 2,600 mosquito species worldwide, 63 species live in New Jersey, and in any one county there are only about a dozen species that tend to bite humans. Only female mosquitoes of any species bite; they need the blood meal for protein so they can lay their eggs.
Flight ranges of mosquitoes vary from species to species. Some species in New Jersey seldom fly more than a few feet from their resting habitat, while others can fly over 50 miles in search of a bloodmeal, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Adults start flying by April or May. The larvae hatch from eggs in the water and remain there during development, about five to seven days, according to the DEP. The larvae then go through the pupal, or resting stage, for approximately a day. Adult mosquitoes then emerge from this stage and take flight.
Adult male and female mosquitoes then mate. Once the female has mated she looks for a blood meal which she uses to develop a batch of eggs and the entire life cycle is started over again when she lays eggs on the water surface or in areas prone to flooding.
Mosquitoes' taking of a bloodmeal, or host-seeking, is very temperature dependent. Once the air temperature falls below 60 degrees and the light-dark cycle shifts in the fall, this behavior ceases, according to the DEP, and they go into hibernation.
Winter doesn't give us a very long respite from them. Some species are active in this area as early as February.
New Jersey has deployed gambusia, a tiny fish, no more than an inch or two long, secret weapon to help control the mosquito population and prevent such mosquito-borne illnesses as West Nile virus and Zika virus. Gambusia, which look like harmless silvery minnows, are a potent weapon because they love to eat mosquito larva.
Bergen County Executive James Tedesco III releases a bucket of minnows into a pond in Borg's Woods as part of the county's mosquito control program, "Bergen Bites Back."
The gambusia fish are raised at the state's fish hatchery in Hackettstown and distributed to the counties. Bergen County has used the fish in areas with standing water that lacks oxygen and has no other native fish species already there, such as stagnant old ponds without any aerators. They used the fish in swimming pools at unoccupied, foreclosed homes during the height of the recession in 2008 and 2009.
Bergen County's mosquito control division also maintains a list of areas in each town where standing water tends to collect, and inspectors continually cycle through the spots checking for mosquito larvae. If they find larvae, mosquito control officers will spray with BTI, a form of bacteria that generates toxins which kill mosquito larvae without harming most other living things.
Advice includes using screens on windows, wearing long-sleeved bright-colored clothing, and using insect repellent when outside. Officials say residents should repeatedly police their yards for anything that could hold standing water after a rainstorm — from wheelbarrows, rumpled tarps and old tires to an upturned bottle cap.
Source: NorthJersey.com, James M. O'Neill, September 20, 2023
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