How many kinds of mosquitoes are in the United States?
Since 1999, in the United States more than 60 mosquito species have been found in West Nile virus positive mosquito pools. These are pools from which West Nile virus was isolated, West Nile RNA detected, or West Nile antigen was detected using a variety of diagnostic tests. Although a mosquito species found positive for the virus in nature may potentially be a carrier, further tests are usually needed to determine if the species is efficient in transmitting the virus to humans. It is important to know which mosquitoes are efficianet carriers of the virus in your state or local community.
