West Nile: Maricopa County tracks rising cases amid monsoon season

PHOENIX - Arizona is now in the heart of the monsoon season, and with that often comes a lot of mosquitoes.

With West Nile cases on the rise in the state, officials with Maricopa County Department of Environmental Services are working to collect data on mosquitoes carrying the disease.

What they're saying:

"We take the mosquitos that we catch in our surveillance trap and sort them out, and the nighttime biting mosquitos are taken over to other parts of the lab and tested for West Nile," said Maricopa County Environmental Services Division Manager John Townsend.

So far, they’ve had 183 positive samples for the West Nile Virus. They also have more than 850 traps scattered across Maricopa County, filled with dry ice.

"You can see the gas coming out that mimics an animal, because every time you take a breath out and exhale, that mimics that attracts the mosquitos as they get close to the gas sucks them into that net," Townsend said.

Dig deeper:

Many of the West Nile cases came early in the year.

"Anytime you have rain, mosquito activity pops up a little bit," said Townsend. "It's been kind of hot and dry the last few weeks, so it slowed down a little bit. We started off kind of hot because [in March and April), we really didn’t have a winter. Catching mosquitos, and they were testing positive already."

What you can do:

There are some ways to prevent getting bit, keeping you and your family safe.

"The main thing is when you’re outside, wear repellent and long-sleeve pants," said Townsend. "No one wants to do that in the summer, but anytime they can’t get to your sling, that’s the best option, and number one, get rid of any standing water because that will be where the mosquitos lay their eggs, and they come out and start biting."

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