Western Standard - Why Calgary's mosquito numbers haven't exploded — yet

00:00:00.000 I'm an assistant professor at the University of Calgary,

00:00:02.500 and I run a research program that studies mosquitoes

00:00:04.580 here in Calgary, elsewhere in Canada and around the bush.

00:00:08.780 So this year, it's still been very light in numbers.

00:00:10.980 We were interested to find that one of the first mosquitoes

00:00:14.680 we caught this year is actually an invasive species

00:00:16.860 that is relatively new to Alberta

00:00:18.920 and somewhat new to Calgary.

00:00:21.800 So we first found that mosquito in 2022,

00:00:24.300 working with the city.

00:00:25.400 It was previously found in Edmonton in 2018,

00:00:27.620 and that is the northern house mosquito, Culex piviens.

00:00:30.660 So this mosquito is new to Alberta,

00:00:34.160 but it's not new to Canada.

00:00:35.280 However, it's primarily found out east in higher numbers,

00:00:38.880 and there it is one of the main vectors of West Nile virus.

00:00:41.980 So that's been a little bit of a concern for us here.

00:00:43.860 We don't know if that mosquito is changing

00:00:46.260 West Nile dynamics in Calgary yet,

00:00:48.180 but that is one thing my lab is researching.

00:00:50.580 So if you get bitten by a mosquito that has West Nile,

00:00:53.380 for most people, they end up with no symptoms at all.

00:00:56.420 There are a small number of people

00:00:57.940 that after being infected by West Nile,

00:00:59.880 they end up with flu-like symptoms.

00:01:01.640 And then there's an even smaller percentage of people

00:01:03.780 that end up with rain swelling and encephalitis

00:01:06.140 that can do quite that for now.

00:01:07.900 A bad mosquito season is if we have lots

00:01:10.600 of really heavy rainfall followed by warm temperatures.

00:01:14.140 As soon as things start to heat up,

00:01:15.560 we'll start to see those adults being active.

00:01:18.540 Yeah, so we do have mosquitoes in Calgary

00:01:20.200 that spread West Nile.

00:01:21.180 And so we always ask people to do things like wear bug spray,

00:01:25.320 reduce your risk of basically getting mosquito bites,

00:01:27.480 whether that's for using insect repellent,

00:01:29.640 wearing long clothes and long pants,

00:01:31.640 adjusting your activity periods

00:01:33.040 to time where mosquitoes are less active.

00:01:35.720 So West Nile is endemic to Canada now.

00:01:38.280 It is found all from coast to coast.

00:01:41.200 Certain places do have higher incidence

00:01:43.080 of West Nile than others.

00:01:44.080 And generally, Alberta is relatively low

00:01:46.040 compared to Eastern Canada.

00:01:47.560 But it's still a virus that we track here,

00:01:50.160 especially now where we test mosquitoes

00:01:52.160 that we catch here in Calgary,

00:01:53.160 for where it's much money.

Western Standard - June 23, 2026

Why Calgary's mosquito numbers haven't exploded — yet

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