Houston Makes The List Of Top 50 Mosquito Cities

HOUSTON, TX — Summer time is right around the corner, which means mosquitoes have already begun to make their appearance in the Bayou City.

While it’s no surprise that Houston is among the worst when it comes to combatting the mosquito menace, it may surprise some that Houston wasn’t the top spot for mosquitoes for 2017.

On May 1, Orkin released the list of top 50 mosquito cities in the United States with Atlanta, Georgia topping the list, followed by Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York and Miami-Fort Lauderdale rounding out the top five cities.

Dallas-Fort Worth came in at No. 6, followed by Houston at No. 7. (Sign up for the free Houston Patch morning newsletter.)

Other Texas cities who made the auspicious Orkin list were Austin who jumped up 11 spots to No. 37, and San Antonio at No. 39 on the list.

Mosquitoes, although a nuisance, are also known carriers of diseases, such as West Nile Virus, and the South American-born Zika Virus.

And although temperatures are just beginning to rise, the mosquito season has already ushered in the first reported case of West Nile Virus in the Houston area.

On Tuesday, the Montgomery County Health Department announced that a 60-year old woman had contracted West Nile Virus, which already an increase from 2016 when none were reported.

Read Also: Public Health District Announces First West Nile Case In Conroe

The woman is recovering at home.

Meanwhile, the Zika Virus, which began to appear in the U.S. in 2014, is still low on the radar of most Americans.

In fact, a recent Gallup Poll suggests that 90 percent of Americans don’t believe they will get Zika, despite the fact the CDC has confirmed 5,000 cases of Zika in the U.S. since 2015.

“Mosquitoes are a public health threat,” said Orkin entomologist, Mark Beavers, Ph.D. “Zika virus is currently one of the most notable illnesses that can be spread by mosquitoes, and it will likely be a problem again this year, especially in areas where the type of mosquito that can carry the virus thrives.”

Other diseases, such as yellow fever and dengue fever can also be transmitted through mosquito bites.

To help prevent the spread of mosquito-born viruses, officials recommend several precautions, such as using a good repellant, wearing light loose-fitting clothing and long sleeves.

If you have a pool, make sure the water is treated and is circulating.
If you have a bird bath in your yard, change the water each week, and of there’s standing water in a container after a rain, pour it out.

The CDC also recommends trimming shrubbery, cleaning the gutters of your home and ensuring the window screens on the windows of your home are in place and don’t have any large holes.

The Top 50 Mosquito Cities

• Atlanta
• Washington, D.C.
• Chicago
• New York
• Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
• Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
• Houston
• Detroit
• Charlotte, N.C.
• Nashville, Tenn.
• Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.
• Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va.
• Memphis, Tenn.
• Mobile-Pensacola, Fla.
• West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, Fla.
• Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
• Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich.
• Boston
• Phoenix, Ariz.
• Philadelphia
• Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., Asheville, N.C
• Richmond-Petersburg, Va.
• Kansas City, Mo.
• Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio
• St. Louis, Mo.
• New Orleans, La.
• Baltimore, Md.
• Los Angeles
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
• Hartford-New Haven, Conn.
• Lafayette, La.
• Knoxville, Tenn.
• Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
• Indianapolis, Ind.
• Birmingham, Ala.
• Austin, Texas
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• San Antonio, Texas
• Baton Rouge, La.
• Charleston, S.C.
• Shreveport, La.
• Columbia, S.C.
• Columbus, Ohio
• Bangor, Maine
• Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.
• Greensboro-High Pt.-Winston-Salem, N.C.
• Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.
• Tulsa, Okla.
• Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Ark.

Image: Shutterstock

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