But a field biologist urges vigilance, and plenty of repellant

A dry May and June may be frustrating back-yard gardeners and elevating brush fire danger, but if you hate mosquitoes, there is a silver lining to this lack of rain.

There's fewer of the pesky bugs to bug you.

Chuck Lubelczyk, a field biologist with the Maine Medical Center
Research Institute located in Scarborough, said mosquito numbers are definitely down in inland parts of the region like Rochester, Milton, Lebanon, Dover and Sanford.

Lubelczyk's job is to trap mosquitoes throughout York County from June through mid-October to determine the prevalence and potential for dangerous mosquito-borne illnesses like West Nile and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, also known as EEE.

Chuck Lubelczyk (Courtesy photo)

He said he put traps out for the first time a couple of weeks ago and doesn't expect to get the first test results back till next week, but said so far it looks good if you like your cookouts with fewer mosquitoes rather than more.

Lubelczyk said while folks in the Northern Seacoast are enjoying a slight respite from the irritating whine and bite, folks who live elsewhere aren't so lucky.

"In the interior part of Maine things are very dry and mosquitoes are down a bit," he said. "But there are still a lot on the coast, where they breed is salt marshes, which is governed by tides. On the coast, in Kittery, York, mosquitoes are pretty robust."

While the next 10 days predict no heavy rains, only a passing thunderstorm or two this weekend, according to Accuweather, Lubelczyk said all it takes is a good soaking rain to give the mosquitoes, "a shot in the arm" and bring them out of dormancy with a vengeance.

Ironically, the type of rain farmers and gardeners want - a long, steady, soaker - is also what mosquitoes yearn for.

Of course, Lubelczyk's first priority is in detecting mosquitoes carrying the EEE or West Nile virus.

He said if the summer stays dryer than normal like spring, the area could be in for a reduced risk of EEE, but at this point he' s no more than cautiously optimistic, noting that Lebanon, in particular, has been a hot spot for EEE over the years.

Lebanon had outbreaks in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2013, he said. Last November a York County resident thought to have been from a town on the New Hampshire border contracted the disease in September and died in November.

"We're hoping it will (be less severe) this year, but we could get a curveball with the weather and that could take it out of the park," he said. "What this (dry weather) means for EEE and West Nile we won't know till later in July."

West Nile's impact, meanwhile, is even trickier to predict, because it usually tends to do OK even in dry years, because it centers around areas with dependable water sources like farms and urban areas where standing water in tires and buckets prove fertile breeding grounds.

"West Nile doesn't pay attention to dryness," he quipped.

EEE is a rare but deadly disease caused by a virus and spread by infected mosquitoes. The disease most commonly affects people and horses, but illness has been reported in other animals including alpacas, llamas, donkeys, pheasants and emus. Symptoms include fever, muscle pain, headache and altered mental states.

West Nile fever, meanwhile, is less of a health threat, with about 80 percent of infections in humans having few or no symptoms. In cases where symptoms do occur they typically appear between 2 and 15 days and include fever, headache, feeling tired and muscle pain or aches and nausea.

The most important thing is that area residents not get a false of security, Lubelczyk said.

"Lebanon along with Berwick, Alfred and Acton all have a history with EEE, however, if it does stay dry, we will have less," he said.

He urged everyone to continue using insect repellant, adding it will protect them from other insects, including dog and deer ticks as well, and to make sure the repellant is on around dawn and dusk when any mosquito activity is at its highest.

"We have to say vigilant and take precaution," he said.