What type of Mosquitos cause West Nile Virus?
There are many species of mosquitoes but they mainly fall into two categories, namely the Culex Tarsalis mosquitoes and nuisance mosquitoes. All are a nuisance of course, but it is the Culex Tarsalis mosquito that we need to be concerned about, because it is this species of mosquito that can transmit the West Nile Virus. The Town has a mosquito larviciding program in place to combat the nuisance mosquitoes, which started in May of 2006. Before 2006 the Town had to have authorization before beginning, but now Council has agreed to combat the problem early. Before the Town had to have confirmation from the Province that an infected bird had been found in our area before we could begin the process and have thus qualify for funding. The Community Services Department conducts periodic informal larvae counts in an effort to determine approximate numbers. In addition to this, Manitoba Health would set up a number of mosquito traps in our community and they test them for the Culex species on a
