A warmer winter in Alabama means an early mosquito season. While the biting bugs can spoil your outdoor summer events, they can also pose a serious health threat. Dee Jones is the state public health veterinarian. He says illnesses like West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis tend to effect particular groups of people.
Dee Jones: "Certainly the very young and the very old and that's true with almost anything infectious so we see triple E more often in the very young and the very old and it's a very serious infection and a lot of times in those it can be fatal."
Jones says West Nile is not as severe if caught early. He adds that one important way to combat the pest is to eliminate any kind of standing water like the kind that may have collected after the recent rainy weather. That's because it's a favorite breeding ground for mosquitoes.