Wet spring in Iowa raises concerns over West Nile
/ Courtesy of AP GraphicsBank
DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- The thunderstorms that have slammed central Iowa this spring have left ample pools of standing water.
According to Joe Conlon of the American Mosquito Control Association in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, that supplies a strong breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Large number of mosquitoes could increase the risk of West Nile disease. That's a virus that is carried by so-called "vector" mosquitoes. They like to breed in and around standing water.
Conlon says there have been about 24,000 confirmed cases of West Nile and 1,000 deaths since the virus arrived in the United States in the late 1990s.
The last reported West Nile death in Iowa was in September 2005 in Chickasaw County. But authorities in Polk County, Des Moines and the surrounding suburbs have already drafted a plan of attack.
(Copyright ©2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKHQA