Chicago Is 3rd On List Of Mosquito-Infested Cities
By Rachel Cromidas in News on May 1, 2017 10:29PM
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Chicago has just received the dubious honor of being named one of the most mosquito-ridden cities in the U.S.—just behind Atlanta, and Washington D.C. as the city with the third-highest rate of mosquito control problems. On the plus side, we were #2 in 2015 and 2016, so, progress?
Besides being the bane of every Chicagoan's summer camping trip, mosquitos are are a public health threat, thanks to their penchant for carrying around diseases like the Zika virus, which came on our radar last year after it was linked to birth defects in Brazil.
April marked the beginning of mosquito season, according to Orkin, the pest control company that puts out the ranking based on customer data. Thankfully, the folks at Orkin are not all doom and gloom: they say you can protect yourself from the dreaded bloodsuckers by eliminating problem areas in your yard that can attract mosquitoes (i.e. standing water), cleaning gutters, pools, fountains and potted plants and trimming shrubbery.
They also recommend wearing long-sleeved, loose-fitting clothing and mosquito repellent, because mosquitos can bite through tight fabric. Because of course they can.