WICHITA COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) – With all the hot dry weather that has settled over Texoma in recent weeks, many residents may think one positive result could be erasing the threat of mosquitoes. But health officials are warning you not to let your guard down, because one type of mosquito that carries a possibly deadly disease needs almost no water at all to breed.
With the first cases of West Nile now being confirmed in other areas of Texas, Officials say they will be monitoring for that type of mosquito just as closely as they do every summer. West Nile and other diseases brought by mosquitoes may not really be in the front of people’s minds in Texoma, yet.
“We have had no problems this year with mosquitoes,” said Louis Simpson, a Wichita Falls resident. “Some little bitty tiny ones. I’ve heard people say they have had some like horse sized, but I haven’t seen any like that at all.”
Health officials say the type of mosquito you need to worry about doesn’t even mind the extremely dry weather.
“The mosquito that causes the West Nile virus really likes nasty stagnant water to grow in, so the hotter it is with a small pool of water is really a good breeding environment for them,” said Lou Kreidler, the Wichita County Director of Health. “So, most people think well it hasn’t rained we don’t have any issues with mosquitoes.
Anything as small as the top of a coke bottle. That’s all the water a mosquito needs to breed.”
Those that do carry West Nile can make you very sick. You may suffer from flu like symptoms, which for some could be minor and resolve on their own, but Lou Kreidler said they are concerned about those in the area with weakened immune systems. For them West Nile could be much more serious.
“What you see in that is West Nile encephalitis, so they get inflammation in their brain causing high fever, confusion, flu like symptoms that continue to worsen,” Kreidler said. “If you are in an environment and you have been bitten by a mosquito and you have flu like symptoms that continue to worsen then you need to see a physician.”
Which is why it’s best you take the precautions to try to avoid bites, Louis Simpson said he is ready when the pests do make it back to this area.
“In the past when we have had a problem with them, we use one of those butane repellants. You turn it on crank it up and it’s got a little strip in it. Puts out about a 15-foot radius and it seems to work real well,” Simpson said.
Which is good since several West Nile cases have already been confirmed in south Texas and Kreidler says this is the time of summer they usually start appearing in Texoma as well. To try and keep mosquitoes off you, Kreidler said to wear long sleeves and pants as much as possible especially around tall grass and to use a bug spray with deet.
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