It isn’t as if they went away or changed their ways, but it seemed as if they weren’t getting as much publicity for the past year or two. Mosquitoes are always there, leaving red welts on arms and legs and just being annoying.

They were getting a lot of bad press because of the two main conditions that they spread in this area – heartworms in dogs and West Nile Virus in people, horses and to a limited extent in small animals. But both heartworms and West Nile Virus stopped being newsworthy when both seemed to be under control.

Heartworm preventatives had given dogs protection from these parasites that can kill them, and most people became complacent about the problem. It was assumed that as long as the dogs remained on the medication, they were safe. Some believed that as long as dogs remained on the preventative, and took it at the prescribed time, they were safe and would not need to be tested. Many vets who did think testing was necessary only required it every two years. Results of recent tests suggest that dogs on heartworm preventative can still acquire heartworms.

Whether the reason is that mosquitoes are becoming resistant to the preventative, or that people are not giving the pills at the proper time, or just forgetting to give it to the dog is uncertain. Whatever the reason, it is now recommended that dogs be tested annually even if they are on year-round preventative.

West Nile Virus got big news coverage when it first arrived in this country in 1999. From its arrival point in the New York-New Jersey area, it spread north, south and west. Each year, states that were in its path waited, warning people about how to protect themselves.

Results varied. Some states were hit hard and others hardly hit. In Georgia there were few cases and then it seemed to be gone. Some attributed the low number of cases to the drought we were having at the time. Well, the drought is over, and once again we are being warned that this could be a bad year for West Nile Virus.

Just to make it more interesting, it has been found that a common yard bird, the house sparrow, is not only a carrier of the disease, but is immune to it. Until now, the birds that carried the disease, like crows, also died from it. The wren, sort of the Typhoid Tweety of West Nile Virus, can provide a reservoir of fresh virus for the mosquitoes to pass on to us.

Removing sources of standing water from around the home is the best way to reduce the number of mosquitoes that can spread both West Nile Virus and heartworms.