Mosquito specialists from Wageningen University ask people to send in bitten mosquitoes. They investigate, among other things, which mosquitoes cause discomfort in the winter and whether they carry pathogens.
Previous research has shown that a different species of common house mosquito, Culex pipiens molestus, does not hibernate and live in crawling places, for example.
This mosquito causes a lot of nuisance, and this has also become evident in recent weeks from the many reports on mosquitoes radar.nl, the site where people can report mosquito nuisance. Scientists now want to know if the very cold week that just passed has an effect on mosquito populations.
Mosquitoes drink bird blood in summer. They can carry West Nile virus. In this way, seven injuries appeared last year near Utrecht and Arnhem. The virus, which can cause a very serious infection, has never happened before in the Netherlands.
By examining the blood still carried by the battered mosquitoes, researchers may be able to say something about the possibility of this virus emerging again this summer. They are also looking for the Yosotho virus, a mosquito-borne infection that black birds are widely succumbing to.
Dead mosquitoes can be sent out until March 16th. You can learn exactly how to do it on website From the University of Wageningen.
