While most folks try to avoid mosquitoes, Greg Chrislip and his crew go out looking for them.



The insects are captured in traps and tested for West Nile virus.

Chrislip, a public health entomologist with the state Infectious Disease Epidemiology Program, says they do this every year.

So far this year, he says mosquitoes carrying West Nile have been discovered in Kanawha County as well as the Jackson County Fairgrounds. No cases have been found in humans though.

There are 29 species of mosquito in West Virginia.

Chrislip and a group of college interns set traps and then go back to collect the catch. Last year, the team collected 24,000 from mid-June to August.

The last reported human case of West Nile virus in Kanawha County was 2006 when a Mink Shoals man contracted it. His brain and spinal cord were infected but he survived.

Most infected people don't become ill, but 7 to 10 percent of cases are fatal.

Mosquito season is May through October with most of the insects appearing in July and August when the weather is hot and humid.

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