Mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus found in Bingham County

Mosquitoes in Bingham County have tested positive for West Nile virus.

West Nile has been kept out of Bingham County for past few years but has recently popped up again. Those affected by the virus know just how important it is to keep mosquito populations down.

“I missed a ton of school, and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I was just so sick,” says Amanda Hoskins, a victim of West Nile virus. “To this day I still struggle with it. It’s cut my endurance in half. At the time I was running cross country and had to quit doing that. Couldn’t run track. I would just give up. My endurance was gone.”

Vector Disease Control is operating the Bingham County abatement district’s mosquito control program. Even with their efforts an area has been tested positive.

Justin Huse, program manager for Vector Disease Control says, “With the warmer weather that we’ve had this year it’s caused us to actually have more of the species that vector the West Nile virus than we’ve ever had in the past. Because of that we’ve been expecting it to come along at some point in time.”

Huse and his team are using dry ice traps that release carbon dioxide to mimick a human breathing. Those traps allow them to test populations of mosquitos for West Nile and monitor where action must be taken.
According to Huse the largest problem they face is managing the populations where there is standing water nearby.

“Any standing water that’s in their back yards or around their houses, anything like that they need to keep an eye on and make sure its not standing for more than a day or two. Any type of kiddy pool, buckets, any standing water. Even a millimeter is enough for these things to breed in.”

If you feel that you have high mosquitoes populations in your area, Vector Disease Control says you can call them at (208) 684-5112 to get help to control them.