Block Club Chicago (Aug. 19) — Chicagoans have reported more mosquito bites this summer, and experts say a growing invasive species of the pest coupled with a summer of heavy rainfall are to blame. Becky Smith, an epidemiology professor at Illinois, says the heavy rainfall has made the mosquitoes’ breeding easier by leaving more pockets of standing water — which the pests need to breed or lay eggs — in spaces that are normally dry. As an example, Smith says a colleague’s student found Asian Tiger mosquito larvae in a “very tiny” amount of water between the ridges of a plastic downspout extender.
Good Year for Mosquitoes
