Mosquitoes Control

Washington's mosquitoes are not the tropical kind. The Washington Department of Health names Culex pipiens and Culex tarsalis as the state's primary West Nile virus vectors, with the aggressive floodwater mosquito Aedes vexans surging after spring floods and irrigation season. The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is not established in Washington, so any page naming it as the local threat is working from the wrong map. Around Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, mosquitoes breed in the small stuff: clogged gutters, birdbaths, kiddie pools, tire swings, and the saucers under planters, needing only a bottle cap of stagnant water. They rest by day in cool, shaded vegetation and hunt at dusk and dawn. Arizona note: the desert is different, and Arizona health officials report Aedes aegypti well established across much of the state, including abundant populations in Maricopa County, where it has been tied to locally acquired dengue cases.