NATCHEZ — As summer heats up, experts say mosquitoes become more active, potentially posing public health hazards.

The results of a large mosquito population can be more serious than just itchy, red bites — the insects can also carry illnesses such as West Nile Virus. In other countries, another mosquito-borne virus, Zika, has become common.

Though the occurrence of serious mosquito-borne illnesses are comparatively low in Adams County and Concordia Parish, local officials are taking precautions to suppress the population of mosquitoes and are asking for residents’ participation to prevent bites.

Despite sometimes widespread fears, actual reported infections remain small across our community.

Louisiana’s most recent data is from 2012, and showed two West Nile Virus cases in Concordia Parish. Adams County had six cases the same year.

In 2015, Adams County had only one case of West Nile Virus, and no cases have been recorded so far in 2016.

Zika, a mosquito-borne illness connected with birth defects when contracted by a pregnant woman, poses a lesser risk to U.S. residents, officials say.

All three Zika cases that have occurred in Mississippi this year have been connected with travel to Haiti, a Caribbean country. Other countries in South and Central America have also reported active transmission of Zika.

All 544 cases reported in the United States, however, are travel-related. Most patients were people who traveled to a country affected by the virus. Ten of the 544 cases in the U.S. were sexually transmitted, caught from male travelers who recently returned from an affected country.

The small number of travel-related cases have yet to cause any significant impact in the United States so far.

Mississippi State Department of Health Epidemiologist Thomas Dobbs said this might be because the southern U.S. is home to a different breed of mosquitoes than countries affected by Zika.

“The primary Zika mosquito, Aedes aegypti, has not been identified in Mississippi for decades,” Dobbs said. “Aedes aegypti is causing the outbreaks in the Caribbean and Latin America.”

The health department, in partnership with Mississippi State University and The University of Southern Mississippi are conducting a statewide search for potential Zika-carrying mosquitoes, he said.

“We do have the Aedes albopictus mosquito, a potential vector for an outbreak,” he said. “This mosquito could theoretically cause local transmission, but he risk is far lower than from Aedes aegypti.”

Zika symptoms are mild, when they are present at all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and can include rash, joint pain, or red eyes. Adults may not even notice they are sick; severe illness only occurs in unborn babies who catch the virus from their mothers.

Chuck Borum, a local medical doctor who has traveled to Haiti multiple times with Natchez physician Lee England, said the birth defects related to Zika can persist for the child’s entire life.

“It seems to be related with birth defects, causing small head size, or microcephaly, in infants,” Borum said.

The CDC asks men who contract Zika to use condoms or avoid having sex with a pregnant woman for the duration of her pregnancy, and any person for at least three weeks.

Women who contract Zika should avoid getting pregnant, the CDC says, for at least eight weeks after symptoms.

No treatment for Zika currently exists, but for those who are infected the CDC recommends rest, fluids, and acetaminophen (not aspirin) to bring down fever.

In order to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses, many local governments have adopted mosquito suppression measures.

Natchez Public Works began spraying for mosquitoes in April. Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar said the trucks would continue to cover different neighborhoods on a rotational basis for approximately six more months.

“We spray twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday, for about three and a half hours,” Dollar said. “We normally get anywhere from 28 to 32 streets in an afternoon.”

The City of Vidalia also uses trucks twice a week, Vidalia Street Supervisor Lee Staggs said.

“I’ve lived in Vidalia for 55 years,” he said. “They’ve been doing it as long as I can remember.”

The trucks carry Permanone, Staggs said, a plant-based pesticide.

The pesticide is sprayed into the air by the trucks as they drive down neighborhood streets. MSDH epidemiologist Dobbs said the pesticides pose no public health risk due to inhalation.

“The treatments are approved for use in communities,” Dobbs said.

The Mississippi Department of Agriculture requires officials who use the mosquito-spraying trucks to go through a special licensure process before a program can begin.

Because mosquitoes use standing water as breeding grounds, both cities also treat standing water on city property, such as retention ponds, with larvicide.

Adams County Road Supervisor Robbie Dollar said residents of Adams County could obtain larvicide for free from his office at 140 East Franklin St.

“Anybody that needs it can come by the office and pick up a Ziploc bag and put it in standing water and anywhere they have breeding grounds for mosquitoes,” he said.

The bags contain the biological larvicide DectoLex, which can be sprinkled into any stagnant water that cannot be removed, such as ponds.

MSDH recommends that other collectors of standing water, such as spare tires, tarps and children’s wading pools, be emptied and cleaned regularly to prevent breeding.

Robbie Dollar said residents could bring tires to the public landfill on Foster Mound Road in order to remove them as a potential breeding ground.

The health department also recommends residents limit outdoor standing water by repairing leaky outdoor faucets and garden hoses and cleaning out cluttered gutters and drainage pipes.

Running water features, such as streams, don’t normally provide mosquito breeding grounds, Robbie Dollar said, but anything that contains stagnant water could pose a risk.

Some standing water in rural areas, he said, is hard to control.

“Right now in the summer the river’s on the rise,” he said. “So when the river recedes, we’ll have a lot of standing water in areas that normally don’t have standing water. That creates a breeding ground, and a problem with mosquitoes.”

England said repellent can make a big difference in bite prevention.

“It involves spraying your clothes down with permethrin,” England said. “If that’s on your clothing, mosquitoes won’t bite you through your T-shirt. It’s near 100-percent effective.”