WCPO: Expect more late-summer mosquitoes

WCPO Channel 9 talked to University of Cincinnati biologist Joshua Benoit about why the Midwest is seeing a surge in late-summer mosquitoes.

Benoit told WCPO's Raven Richard that a warm, wet winter combined with a warm, wet summer created ideal conditions for the pestilent insects.

"They really start to increase their numbers toward the last couple months of summer – late July, August and early September," Benoit said.

Benoit, an assistant professor of biological sciences in UC's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, studies mosquitoes and other insects in his lab. One of his studies published in the journal Scientific Reports last year found that female mosquitoes bite people not just for the protein they need to lay eggs but also to quench their thirst when it's hot and dry.

The study suggests that mosquitoes can pose a risk of spreading disease in dry conditions as well as wet.

Experts such as Benoit suggest giving mosquitoes fewer places to breed around your home by emptying sources of standing water such as flower pots or kiddie pools.

"Those can be hotbeds for mosquitoes. You can have thousands emerging from there – like a couple thousand a week," Benoit said.

Featured image at top: UC biologist Joshua Benoit studies how mosquitoes transmit illness in his biology lab. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services