Removing stagnant water from your property can reduce the risk of West Nile virus. Clean out gutters and eaves troughs, turn over wheel barrows and wading pools when not in use, remove or thin out overgrown brush and shrubbery, properly chlorinate pools, and aerate ornamental ponds or stock them with fish. Don't allow water to collect in outside containers like: old tires, flowerpots, and toys. Change the water in birdbaths every week.

The Life Cycle of the Mosquito
Only female mosquitoes spread West Nile virus because only female mosquitoes take blood meals, or bite.
Female mosquitoes need blood meals to develop their eggs.

The mosquito has a four-stage life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The female lays her eggs in or around stagnant water, staying close to the surface. The eggs hatch into larvae, and depending on the temperature, develop into adults about seven days later. An adult female mosquito lives four to eight weeks, takes two to three blood meals and lays several hundred eggs.

Larvicide
Larvicide is used in stagnant water areas like storm sewers and catch basins when mosquitoes are at the larval stage. Larvicide stops the development of the larvae and prevents them from emerging as adult mosquitoes.

There are a number of larvicides registered by Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). However, only larvicides that have a minimal impact to the environment and do not present unacceptable risks to human health will be allowed for use by licensed applicators, under an approved permit issued by the Ministry of the Environment.

A vector (mosquito) larviciding program has begun in Windsor and Essex County to reduce mosquito populations. For more information on the larviciding program, please contact the Windsor-Essex Health Unit at: 258-2146 ext. 1473 or 1-800-265-5822.