If you’re covered in more bug bites than usual this year, you’re not alone. This summer has featured record rains for parts of New Hampshire, with Cheshire and Sullivan counties seeing more than 10 inches of rainfall in July. This has one important — and unpleasant — side effect: more mosquitoes.
Sarah MacGregor, owner of Dragon Mosquito Control, a Stratham-based company that helps towns tame their mosquito populations, says standing water is the breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“Everything in the environment that can hold water — from a catch basin to a salt marsh to a woodland pool to a tarp or canoe or dog bowl — all of them provide habitats for mosquitoes. And this summer, they all have water in them,” MacGregor said.
MacGregor has advice for those trying to reduce bug bites in the final weeks of the summer.
“Before I talk about clothing and repellent and screens, I want everybody to go look in their yard and turn over buckets and tarps and kiddie pool," she said. "Anything that’s holding water probably has mosquito larvae in it right now."
MacGregor’s company also helps collect the insects to send to the state to test for diseases. This summer, the most prevalent disease of the ones the state tests for is Jamestown Canyon Virus.
While there have been no human or animal cases of Jamestown Canyon Virus reported in the state, 13 mosquitoes have tested positive for carrying the virus.
