An effective trap can kill off enough egg-laying female mosquitoes to collapse a population over the recommended coverage area. For most entry level mosquito traps, that usually means about half an acre. The idea is to use a trap 24/7, not just when you’re spending time outdoors.

Daily trapping during the season is aimed at disrupting breeding cycles thereby reducing mosquito populations.  Only female mosquitoes bite and a single female mosquito is capable of laying thousands of eggs during her life time.  Consider trapping as another method of  ‘birth control’ .  Because population control is certainly one of the most effective ways of managing mosquito numbers and reducing biting incidences.  read more

There are various means of mosquito control to select from. No matter if you want to clear your garden from grown-up mosquitoes, safeguard yourself with repellant or go after the larvae with dunks, you can pick the most appropriate method for your situation. There are 3 main categories when it comes to mosquito control: repellants, larva/insecticide, and mosquito traps and zappers.

The zapper utilizes an electrical grid to electrocute mosquitoes and every other bug drawn into contact with it.  Zappers are considered as far less efficient as a result of killing too many other beneficial insects in addition to mosquitoes.

By contrast, mosquito traps lure, capture and kill  (not just drive away) mosquitoes that have developed into the most menacing pest they could possibly be.  source

Check out Mosquito Eaters for more information on a range of traps together with comparisons and ratings.

According to the American Mosquito Control Association, advertising claims for acre-wide control “may be somewhat overstated, in most cases being based upon best-case extrapolations… Nonetheless, these devices will indeed trap and kill measurable numbers of mosquitoes. Whether this will produce a noticeable reduction in the mosquito population in your case will depend upon your tolerance level, absolute mosquito population size, proximity, size and type of breeding habitat producing re-infestation, wind velocity and direction and species of mosquito present”.

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“This dramatic increase in positive samples is a great concern. The current weather trends are very conducive to mosquito breeding, and we fear that people are becoming complacent about mosquito prevention and self protection because of last year’s decline in West Nile virus cases and the relatively late start to high mosquito breeding this year.”  source

Traps scented with the odour of human feet attracted four times as many mosquitoes as a human volunteer, said Dr. Fredros Okumu, the head of the research project at Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute. Mosquitoes who fly into the trap are then poisoned.  source

The county is setting up 150 mosquito traps all across the Multnomah county. Ecologists are looking to test all mosquitos found in this area but are specifically looking for the Rock Pool mosquito.

It’s a particularly aggressive species native to Asia known to carry West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever and Encephalitis. It was first discovered in Multnomah county five years ago but is spreading.

And don’t think it comes out just at night.

“It’s a day biter which we do have some day biters in this area but adding one more day biter to the mix that can carry West Nile Virus has potential for disease transmission that we’re concerned with,” says Multnomah County Vector ecologist Carl Pierce.  Read more

In an article in the Vancouver Sun there’s a report on the biggest lab breakthrough against mosquitoes in years.   Scientists said they had identified odour molecules that baffle the bloodthirsty insects.  The molecules disrupt carbon-dioxide sensors that alert mosquitoes to exhaled breath, which signals the presence of a human nearby, the team reported.   The work could lead to revolutionary but low-cost repellents to confuse, deter or trap mosquitoes, it said.

Insecticides, while effective in the short-term, may result in higher resistance in mosquitoes, leading to worse epidemics in the future, according to a study released Tuesday.

The current approach has proven to be inadequate to wipe out the mosquitoes that cause dengue infections, reports the AFP.

Using insecticides, which target only mosquito larvae, and not adults, could result in higher resistance in the insects.

The study found it could lead to less disease immunity among humans, especially in urban settings.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection that causes severe, flu-like symptoms in some 50 million people every year, mainly in developing countries.

The disease is rarely fatal but frequently debilitating, and global incidence of the disease has risen dramatically in recent decades.

The increase has been linked to both rapid urbanization and the impact of global warming. Some 2.5 billion people are at risk, reports the AFP.

No treatment, cure or vaccine currently exists — the only way to control the disease is to kill the mosquitoes that carry it, especially one species: Aedes aegypti.

According to the study, the method prevailing in most countries — attempting to destroy breeding areas — is misguided, reports the AFP.

“Year-round larval control can be counterproductive, exacerbating epidemics in later years because of evolution of insecticide resistance and lost of herd immunity,” the researchers said.

“Herd immunity” is the term scientists use to describe immunity that occurs when enough of the population is inoculated from having had the disease to prevent it from spreading easily. source