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Wet Weather To Bring Mosquito Surge, West Nile Fears

LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) - All the wet weather means mosquitoes could be a big problem in Colorado. And starting this week, the state will test them for West Nile virus.

In a wet spring season like the Front Range has seen, water reaches places it hasn't before, giving eggs laid even years ago the soaked ground they need to finally hatch.

"They're biting. I mean they are biting everywhere. They're biting animals, they're biting people, so it's a big concern," Maggie Wahrenbrock of Greeley said.

Experts across the Front Range are counting on a big surge in mosquitoes.

"The increased rainfall has definitely led to an increase in the mosquito populations," said Broox Boze, Operations Manager with Colorado Mosquito Control.

Boze leads surveillance operations for Colorado Mosquito Control in Loveland. She says anywhere there is standing water for more than a week mosquitoes can lay their eggs.

"As the waters have been rising over the past few weeks, any egg anywhere along that water line has been hatching and reproducing very quickly into the adult species," Boze said.

Approximately 95 percent of mosquitoes trapped so far are floodwater species -- a nuisance, but not a health risk.

Statewide testing begins this week to determine how much of the remaining 5 percent includes species that can carry West Nile virus.

"Hopefully everything goes back to normal, because I'm tired of getting bit up," Wahrenbrock said.

It's still too soon to know whether West Nile virus will be a threat to Colorado communities this summer. For the next few weeks experts say pile on the bug spray and drain standing water in your yard.

Additional Information

Are crews spraying in your neighborhood right now?

Fort Collins - No regular spraying (also known as adulticide - killing adult mosquitos). The city only allows spraying when leaders determine the West Nile virus risk to be high and affecting people.

Loveland - Yes, crews began spraying there this week. The city allows for spraying once a threshold is met. That threshold is: once either 50 culex (WNV carrier) mosquitos or 100 nuisance mosquitos are found, per trap net.

Windsor - Yes, has the same threshold as Loveland, defined above.

Berthoud - No, the town has no protocol in place for mosquito spraying.

Timnath - No, not right now, but does allow for spraying on an "as needed" basis.

Longmont - No, the city only sprays once the first human case of WNV anywhere in the state is confirmed.

- Information from Colorado Mosquito Control 

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