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Time for officials to swat the little buggers

By JEFF WEBB
Published June 28, 2007

To hear some critics tell it, government has become a blood-sucking beast, draining taxpayers of their patience and putting the bite on their pocketbooks.

It often may seem that way, but it probably is true only some of the time; usually, government provides a needed service for a reasonable price. If you're like me, you may question the actual need for some of those services, but that's another column for another day.

In fact, let's jump off that budget-cutting, government-bashing bandwagon, which so many have climbed on lately, and listen to the buzz from a distant, dank corner.

The American Mosquito Control Association wants you to be aware: You are smack in the middle of Mosquito Control Awareness Week 2007.

This observance has been around for 10 years, which is not very long considering that the AMCA was founded in 1935. I don't know why it took this very specialized professional organization 62 years to declare its own week, but now that they have my ear, it is filled with astonishing useful information.

According to a news release from the AMCA, "mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism, with more than 1-million people dying from mosquito-borne diseases every year. Not only can mosquitoes carry diseases that afflict humans, they also transmit several diseases and parasites that dogs and horses are very susceptible to."

It goes on to detail that of the 2, 700 species of mosquitoes in the world, 176 subsist in the United States.

Given that so much of Florida is swampland, that it is warm most of the year, and that the rainy season is so long usually, one might speculate that most of the 176 varieties of mosquitoes hail from here. Not so. Only 77 have been found in the Sunshine State; Texas, with 85, leads the nation. (No word yet on whether the skeeters, like so many other things, are bigger in the Lone Star State.)

Itching to know more? Then chew on these tidbits from the AMCA:

- Mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide. The little buggers will travel up to 50 yards to seek it out.

- If you sit very still, you are less likely to be bitten by mosquitoes; that's because people who are "active or fidgety" produce more carbon dioxide.

- Because of hormonal differences, mosquitoes like women better than men.

- Mosquitoes like blonds better than brunets.

- Contradicting the aforementioned attraction to blonds, mosquitoes prefer victims wearing dark clothes.

So, based on those scientifically proven facts, we arrive at this unscientific conclusion: If you dye your hair black, sit very still and take shallow breaths, you are less likely to be noticed by these disease-carrying pests. (You also are less likely to be noticed by human beings, too, but you'll be bite-free.)

We've barely scratched the surface of what the AMCA does. But you can learn more, including helpful tips on how to curb the critters from breeding in your yard, if you visit the group's Web site, www.mosquito.org.

Jeff Webb is editor of editorials for the Hernando County edition of the St. Petersburg Times. He can be reached at webb@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6123. Pinellas County residents can call Pinellas County Mosquito Control at (727) 464-7503.

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[Last modified June 28, 2007, 07:33:33]