Within the last few weeks, Dr. Philip Armstrong of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station said that based on traps they have throughout the state, mosquito numbers have roughly doubled.
“The abundant rainfall, the heat, the high humidity–it’s almost like a perfect storm for these mosquitos to flourish,” Armstrong said.
Through various tests, Armstrong and his team have detected strains of West Nile Virus in mosquitoes trapped in New Haven, Fairfield and Hartford counties.
“All of the virus activity that we’ve picked up so far this year has been in mosquitoes, so to date, we have no reported human cases,” Armstrong said.
No human cases yet, but according to experts, the period of peak risk for humans to report the virus starts about this time of year and goes through September.
“We’re testing the mosquitoes in trap locations throughout the state and we’re going to continue to monitor them to see if the virus continues to intensify in the weeks ahead,” Armstrong said.
This content is excerpted from an article by WVIT’s Dave Peck published on Aug. 07, 2023. Read the full article here