Mosquitos may be swarming in the Fraser Valley but there's little chance the dreaded West Nile Virus will be creeping into the Lower Mainland this year.
That's the message from Christy MacDougall, the Tri-Cities' acting vector control biologist who's monitoring local catch basins and storm drains with four BCIT students this summer.
In the valley, a species of mosquito - one that doesn't carry WNV - is plaguing residents mostly because of the rising floodwaters of the Fraser River.
Those same "nuisance" skeeters are being treated here by MacDougall's team with bacteria-based larvicides such as Bti on an "as needed basis," she said.
The $80,000 program to monitor pest activity in surface waters is funded by the Fraser Health Authority.
"It's been fairly the same as last year," she said. "We've been doing it for so long now that we have a good idea of what to do, what to look for and where to go."
Still, what has changed - and continues to do so on an annual basis - is new development, which in turn brings in extra streets with more catch basins. The vector control team has to be on top of the housing projects, especially on Burke Mountain where the landscape is altering fast, she said.
Currently, nuisance mosquitos are not in high numbers in the Tri-Cities. And according to the BC Centre for Disease Control, of the 90 people, 468 mosquito pools and 15 birds tested by the lab so far this year, no provincial results have been positive.
In 2010, one person in the interior tested positive, and five birds. WNV was recorded for the first time in B.C. in 2009.
Two mosquito species are capable of transmitting west nile virus in this province: Culex pipiens and Culex tarsalis.
