We asked experts how to keep the pests away from your house and protect yourself from bites when you go outdoors.
Summer is winding down, but mosquitoes will still be out in full force in early fall.
Most of the time, bug bites are no more than a nuisance that fades in a few days. But mosquitoes can transmit pathogens that cause diseases, including West Nile virus and, in very rare cases, a disease known as Eastern equine encephalitis, or E.E.E.
You can take simple precautions to keep mosquitoes away from your home and protect yourself when you’re outdoors.
Get rid of standing water.
Female mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water, said Dina Fonseca, an entomology professor at Rutgers University, which means any source of standing water near your home is a potential breeding ground.
Look out for water pooling inside your gutters where leaves have built up, near leaky sprinklers, on top of tarps and in flower pots or buckets you keep outside. Mosquitoes don’t need much water to lay their eggs, so try to be thorough.
“It’s actually pretty sneaky,” said Dr. Jen Wall Forrester, division director of infectious diseases at the University of Cincinnati. “It’s really hard to get rid of all the water in your yard,” she said.
Some communities have mosquito abatement districts. If you’ve cleaned up the water around your house but still find yourself swatting away mosquitoes, consider contacting your local district to see if they can manage the problem, said Daniel Markowski, technical advisor at the American Mosquito Control Association. They can do this by helping with water control or, in certain cases, applying minimal amounts of insecticides, experts said.