Anyone that's braved the heat the past couple days and ventured outside might have noticed a surplus of mosquitoes swarming the greater Chicago area.
Although the rapid increase of the pesky bug might come as a surprise to most, officials could see this mosquito doomsday coming since last month.
"Once the rain occurred we could predict that this was going to occur," said Robert Berry of the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District. “Consequently these flood water mosquitoes that lay their eggs in low areas, muddy areas, hatched out.”
The main culprit of the attacks is know as the Nuisance Mosquito, different from the ones that carry the dangerous West Nile virus, which had a sudden spike in population since several inches of rain fell in late July.
When the district checked its 11 traps, it discovered that the number of mosquitoes went from 755 to nearly 6,200 in just a week. That’s about an 800 percent spike in their population.
Barry said that the high volume of calls the Mosquito Abatement District has received about the problem supports their findings.
“People say, 'I can't go outside. I go from my car to house and get attacked,'" said Barry. "And they want to know if we’re doing something about it."
Relief from the mosquitoes could be coming soon, Barry said. Mosquito Control will spray later this week in hopes of suppressing those pesky mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes. They suck. Literally.
