WBR Mosquito Control begins trapping, testing to welcome mosquito season

The weather is nice but watch out for bites. The 2019 mosquito trapping and disease testing season kicked off this week.

West Baton Rouge Mosquito Control began trapping pregnant mosquitos in 21 locations around the parish on Monday. Pre-treatment of local parks began Monday, April 1 as well. The WBR Mosquito Control crew will be out treating storms drains and any standing water in and around parish park areas.

From now until November, Mosquito Control officers will collect the traps two times each week to send samples to the LSU Diagnostic Lab for West Nile Virus, Saint Louis encephalitis (SLE), and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).

The traps are designed to capture pregnant, or egg-laying, Southern House Mosquitoes, the species of mosquito that is the primary disease carrier in Louisiana.

The results of the trapping and testing determine when and where Mosquito Control officers use spray trucks and larviciding, which is spraying roadside ditches or bodies of water to kill mosquito larvae.

West Baton Rouge Mosquito Control will post testing results to their Facebook page each Monday. Also available on their Facebook page is a GIS map of where spray trucks are scheduled and areas that have already been sprayed.