BROOKINGS, S.D. -- In 2008, South Dakota has had the full range of detection of West Nile virus this year, in humans, mosquitoes, birds and horses, says Lon Kightlinger, state epidemiologist in Pierre.
Peak season for West Nile is July 15 through Sept. 15, and two-thirds of the cases are contracted in the month of August.
Culex tarsalis one of 43 mosquito species, is the best vector for West Nile and is seen everywhere in the Great Plains. It is fewer in number than the hordes of mosquitoes that already have been biting this year, Kightlinger says.
The mosquito bites birds, which are the main reservoir for the disease, and then it passes to humans, horses and other mammals.
The species is especially problematic because it is good at surviving on the prairie, with very little moisture, and overwinters as an adult as well as laying eggs. The mosquito has a white band on its proboscis and its legs, but untrained observers usually can't distinguish it.
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