How El Paso, Las Cruce fight mosquitoes and West Nile virus

the year in the borderland. with all that standing water, a new threat emerges: west nile virus. in fact, here in el paso the health department has just confirmed the death of an elderly man in the lower valley. the man — who had underlying medical conditions — became the first person to die this year after contracting the west nile virus in el paso county. abc-7’s iris lopez tells us how el paso and las cruces are trying to eradicate mosquitoes carrying the virus. pkg: nat water running the rain will start to taper off over the next few weeks… but the water that already fell might stick around for a while. since all mosquitoes must have water to complete their life cycle, even the smallest amount of standing water can lead to much bigger problems. so local health experts say we all need to work together. “you cleaning you yard does more to prevent west nile than anything else.” ke sholar with dona ana county vector control says you might be surprised where you’d find moquitoes breeding “childrens toys, the bird bath the dog bowl this is the time to give it a rinse, wash it out, and also if possible if they’ve been holding on to tires or anything behind the shed.” sholar says he specifically concerned with ponds and clean standing water.. so, he’s getting help from some little helpers.. “s we jokingly reffer to them as possibly the hardest working middow in mosquito control and we have seen them do tremendous surpresion online and we’ve watched them work.” it’s like a all-you-can eat buffet for the so- called “mosquito fish” as the minnows devour the insect’s larvae. nat of mosquitos back here in el paso, vectrr control uses “fogging” to minimize th mosquito population. you may see or hear these trucks driving late at night in parts of el paso that see a lot of standing water. water nat so besides draing all standing water, remember the other four d’s. stay inside at dusk and dawn. dress with longer sleeves and pants… and use bug repellent with deet in it. iris lopez, abc-7 if you have standing water on your property and want to get some of those free minnows … you can get them every tuesday from eight to ten a-m at 46-05 west picacho, or if you would like to report an area with standing water call 3-1-1. your full storm track weather forcast – after the break