Panhandle Public Health District (PPHD), along with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS), continues to monitor West Nile virus in the area, along with several other diseases caused by mosquitoes, through trapping methods that help provide the best possible opportunity to track these diseases. Surveillance of mosquitoes also helps determine where mosquitoes are most abundant, identifies mosquito breeding sites, and can track population and infection rates over time. Center for Disease Control (CDC) Light Trap: PPHD uses a CDC light trap which can be used to trap a wide range of mosquito species such as Aedes albopictus or the Culex species, the latter of which is known to contain West Nile virus.
Light traps use dry ice that release carbon dioxide that attracts host-seeking female mosquitoes along with a light and fan that traps mosquitoes in a container to be shipped out to a lab for testing. Female mosquitoes bite humans as they need a blood meal to help them produce their eggs. Male mosquitoes do not bite people and animals.
Light traps are placed out generally at dusk, when mosquitoes are known to be most active, and are placed in areas that are typically seen as good mosquito breeding grounds such as areas with tree and brush cover, standing water, or low-lying areas that flood or can stay soggy. Most mosquitoes don’t travel far from their breeding grounds. Many species of mosquitoes travel only a few miles in their lifetime, so the traps can pot.