Besides flooding streets, uprooting trees and leaving thousands without power, Hurricane Gustav left Baton Rouge with another problem — mosquitoes.With standing water left after the storm, the city will see an increase in mosquitoes in the next few weeks, said Wayne Kramer,entomology professor.Baton Rouge had a relatively dry summer, but with the large amount of water and localized flooding from Gustav, hordes of mosquitoes will begin to emerge.Louisiana is home to more than 60 species of mosquitoes. Many lay eggs without water, and when water floods the eggs, they hatch.”The extra water leads to extra eggs being hatched,” Kramer said. “There’s no question that we will have a lot more mosquitoes than before the storm.”Some of the wind-scattered debris from Gustav now serves as mosquito breeding habitats after being filled with rain water the storm produced.These mosquitoes, often referred to as “pest mosquitoes” or “flood water mosquitoes,” have a very small chance of carrying the West Nile virus, Kramer said.But the thousands of people left without power might be in more danger. The Southern House Mosquito is a common transmitter of the West Nile virus.”People without power are sleeping with their windows open,” Kramer said. “Some mosquitoes are coming in. Hopefully, they have window screens.”Kramer said the best protection is mosquito repellent.”The main thing is to protect yourself,” he said. “You may not be in a position to get rid of water. The only thing you can do is protect yourself with repellent.”With Hurricane Ike projected to hit Texas, Louisiana will likely receive a fair amount of rain, Kramer said.East Baton Rouge Parish can expect several weeks of mosquito problems depending on the weather, according to Baton Rouge’s Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Web site. Because of the duration of this problem, the department is requesting state and federal help at this time.Nightly truck spraying has increased since the storm, spraying four to five hours every night of the week and covering every area of Baton Rouge at least every five to seven days, according to Lewis Combs, East Baton Rouge Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control night supervisor.Campus and surrounding areas are included in nightly sprays, but the large number of students outside can affect the amount of spraying.”If there are a whole lot of people walking in the area, they have to move on and spray around it,” Combs said. “You don’t want to be spraying everyone with the chemical.”Combs said more people are spending time outside because of the power outages, thus making it more difficult to spray in certain areas.East Baton Rouge Parish usually sprays March through November, and Combs does not expect to be spraying further into the winter.”We should have it cleaned up as far as the heavy duty efforts in the next month as long has we don’t get anything following what’s already happened,” he said.—-
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