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NewsPrevention efforts already under way to combat mosquitoes

Prevention efforts already under way to combat mosquitoes

May 21, 2025

News – Sheridan Media

Sheridan County Weed and Pest Assistant Supervisor Brian Songer and Natural Resources Coordinator for the City of Sheridan, Clark Van Hoosier made an appearance on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse to discuss mosquito prevention.

According to Songer, each year, many people lose their lives due to an encounter with a creature small enough to go unnoticed, until it is too late. Worldwide, it is estimated that over 500 million people are infected with a mosquito-borne disease every year, with 2.7 million of those cases becoming fatal. Songer said that makes mosquitoes the most lethal killing machine known to man.

Here in Sheridan County, Songer said there are two species the Sheridan County Weed and Pest and the City work to control.

B. Songer

Culex tarsalis is the mosquito responsible for the outbreaks of West Nile Virus since the virus first appeared in Wyoming in 2003. According to the Wyoming Department of Health, WNV has since been detected in every county of Wyoming. In humans, WNV causes symptoms similar to the flu, including fever, headache, muscle aches, nausea, and swollen lymph nodes.

Both the County and the City have been actively seeking larva for over a month. Larva are being found by the teams, but the culex tarsalis will not emerge until the weather warms up.

B. Songer

Larva need standing to hatch and develop. For now, Van Hoosier recommends keeping an eye on or removing any standing water on your property as larva of other species are beginning to hatch in various locations around the region.

Sheridan County Weed and Pest offers two types of Bacillus thuringiensis, subspecies israelensis (Bti) larvicide for county residents to purchase at a discounted price to assist with mosquito mitigation. Bti can be distributed into standing water such as ponds and other low-lying water areas that cannot be drained.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Bti is not harmful to people, honeybees, animals, and the environment when used as directed.