Jacob Lehman runs Destination Wildlife Control, a Northern Virginia-based wildlife control company that performs emergency service calls, nuisance animal removal, dead animal removal, exclusion services, cleanup services, handyman services, home inspections, termite inspections, and general pest control. The company can provide you with a complimentary home mosquito evaluation, and tell you how they can help. Here, Lehman explains the potential risks of mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are everywhere, especially in the spring and summer, and when it’s wet. Even the smallest pool of untreated water is a potential mosquito breeding ground. Mosquitoes can go from egg to adult in 13 days, with each female laying 50 to 500 eggs. Based on an average of 200 eggs per female and two weeks to get from egg to adult, 20 million mosquitoes can emerge in just five generations. Mosquitoes carry numerous diseases, most of which Americans don’t have to concern themselves with, unless they are traveling to a third-world country. But three important diseases are of potential concern to us:
- Encephalitis: Sometimes called sleeping sickness, it causes swelling of the brain tissue and may cause disability or death.
- West Nile Virus: Causes fever, headache, muscular pain, and rashes.
- Canine Heartworm Disease: Can be fatal to dogs and is caused by a small roundworm.
The possibility of a human actually getting encephalitis or the West Nile Virus is remote as these diseases occur more frequently in animals such as dogs. But mosquitoes are still incredibly annoying, with their biting and buzzing, hiding under decks and ornamentals adjacent to your home. This is where Destination Wildlife Control comes in. We can treat and/or eliminate standing water areas and mosquito-resting locations so that mosquitoes are abated significantly.
