Date: Fri 30-Jul-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

environment-mosquitoes

Full Text:

Mosquito Population Drops In Drought

HARTFORD -- There may be more sweating, but there is less scratching this

summer because of the hot and dry weather that is cutting down on the mosquito

population.

The state Department of Environmental Protection reported Monday that the most

recent tests of trapped mosquitoes for eastern equine encephalitis were

negative and that overall numbers of the insects have sunk to a three-year-low

in inland areas.

"We have seen a big decline in the number of mosquitoes we are catching," said

Theodore Andreadis, chief medical entomologist at the Connecticut Agriculture

Experiment Station in New Haven. "And unless we see significant rain I would

expect the same trend to continue in August."

Andreadis said only 50 mosquitoes were caught last week at an inland trap.

During the same week last year, 250 were caught.

The number of mosquitoes trapped in salt marsh areas of the state has stayed

about the same as in years past, because breeding there is not linked to

rainfall, Andreadis said.