July’s heavy rains are producing August’s hungry mosquitoes.
The Summit County Health District is encouraging residents to take added precautions against the bugs, especially when outdoors in wooded areas.
“There has been a significant increase in the amount of mosquitoes due to the flooding a few weeks ago,” spokesman Terry Tuttle said Saturday. Those mosquitoes are aggressive biters, he said.
The health district is continuing to spray and spread larvicide to kill mosquitoes, but people are encouraged to take additional precautions.
That includes eliminating mosquito-breeding sites by emptying standing water from any containers in the yard, discarding old tires, changing water in bird baths at least once a week and applying chemicals to kill mosquito larva in ponds.
People can protect themselves by staying indoors at times when mosquitoes are most active: dawn and dusk.
Wear light-colored clothing with long sleeves and long pants and apply a repellent containing DEET to deter mosquitoes.
DEET should not be used on infants under the age of 1, and for older children the product should not contain more than 10 percent DEET. Adults can apply DEET at 30 percent.
Other effective repellents contain picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus and IR3535.