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Does Southern Nevada need to do more to prevent mosquitoes?

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Does Southern Nevada need to do more to prevent mosquitoes?


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — With cooler temperatures here, that means mosquito season is thankfully coming to an end.

Following up on a story I covered on Monday when I stopped at UNLV to talk to experts about how bad this past mosquito season was, on Tuesday I wanted to find out what can be done to help fight the problem.

University experts showed me the studies they are doing and explained how bad the problem got this past summer.

This year, we saw a huge uptick in human West Nile virus cases at 26, and we also saw a boom in the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that was not here in Southern Nevada prior to 2017.

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Rick Bowmer/AP

Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District biologist Nadja Reissen examines a mosquito Monday, Aug. 26, 2019, in Salt Lake City. A number of counties in Utah are reporting mosquito populations carrying West Nile virus following a spring with weather conditions that allowed the pests to flourish. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Joe: If this mosquito is not going anywhere and you see that population boom this year, one can only expect next summer we will do it again.

“100%. The issue, Joe, is that there is no coordinated mosquito abatement district here in Southern Nevada,” said Vivek Raman, who is an environmental health supervisor with the Southern Nevada Health District.

Raman said that in a typical year, they get around 90 to 100 complaints during the peak mosquito season. This year, they had more than 500 complaints.

He said there are some departments, such as Public Works or County Vector Control, that are able to do some mitigation efforts, but not one for the entire valley like you would see in other cities or counties in California, Utah, or Arizona.

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“This is very new to Southern Nevada. When you think about Aedes aegypti — only five, six years it’s been introduced now — to see it spread across the entire valley just goes to show how we need to look at what other communities have done and pick the best parts of what their programs are and the best parts of how they get funding,” Raman said.

He said the Southern Nevada Health District is looking into plans for the future on their end, and the experts I spoke to at UNLV agree — more can be done and they hope their data and studies from the summer can help.

WATCH | Why did the mosquito population boom this year? Experts weigh in and are looking for answers

Why did the local mosquito population boom this year? Experts weigh in

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Nevada

One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County

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One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada Highway Patrol responded to a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near mile marker 94 Sunday evening.

The crash was reported at 6:43 p.m. on June 28.

MORE ON FOX5: Driver sustains life-threatening injuries in Las Vegas multi-vehicle crash

A passenger sedan and a pickup truck were involved in the crash. One vehicle was traveling southbound, lost control, crossed through the median, and struck the other vehicle head-on in the northbound travel lane.

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One adult male died at the scene. Two people were transported by ground ambulance, and two others were transported by life flight to a local hospital.

Road closures

All northbound I-15 travel lanes were closed at mile marker 94, but have since opened as of Sunday night.

Nevada Highway Patrol said further information will be provided following the preliminary investigation.

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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires

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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires












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