Parts of Oklahoma have seen more than a dozen inches of rainfall over past two weeks, and saturated ground conditions have led to a lot of standing water where it normally wouldn’t pool. That means more mosquitoes, and the potential health concerns the insects carry.
Some low-lying areas are still flooded after the recent May storms, and standing water in nutrient-rich soil is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.
“If we do keep getting these heavy rains followed by periods of 7-10 days without these flushing rainfalls to flush the mosquito larvae away, then yes, we’re going to have an increase in mosquitoes during when we’re seeing the West Nile virus brought into the county by the migrating birds," said Waite Colbaugh, a West Nile Monitoring and Prevention Coordinator with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health confirmed there are no current cases of the virus in Oklahoma, and the greatest risk of exposure in the state typically occurs between July and October.
"It could cause a slight increase in the number of West Nile cases later this year, but there are so many factors that affect that," Colbaugh said.
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