According to data compiled by the pest control company Orkin, Washington DC is the second worst mosquito city in the country.
This year, Washington DC reclaimed its position atop the leaderboard of the country's most literate city. Now, the District has been ranked as the second worst mosquito city in the United States.
Every year, mosquitoes claim at least one million lives across the globe. May 1 marked the beginning of "Mosquito Season" in the Mid-Atlantic region. While people living in DC, Maryland, and Virginia don't have to worry about killer mosquito-born diseases Malaria or Dengue Fever, health officials are warning people to keep an eye out for symptoms of Zika and West Nile Virus.
“Mosquitoes are a public health threat,” explained Orkin entomologist, Mark Beavers, Ph.D. “Zika virus is currently one of the most notable illnesses that can be spread by mosquitoes, and it will likely be a problem again this year, especially in areas where the type of mosquito that can carry the virus thrives."
The mosquito city rankings were compiled by Orkin, the pest control company. The rankings were determined by aggregating the number of mosquito customers the company served in each American city between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Since the company operates nationwide, it can extrapolate that the cities with the most calls about exterminating mosquitoes have the worst mosquito problems. The data compiled includes both residential and commercial extermination jobs.
Last year, Washington DC ranked third on the leaderboard, losing out to such mosquito havens as Atlanta and Chicago. But this year, the District of Columbia beat out the Windy City for the silver medal in blood sucking insects.
Here are the top 10 cities in Orkin's worst mosquito city ranking:
- Atlanta
- Washington, D.C.
- Chicago
- New York
- Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
- Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
- Houston
- Detroit
- Charlotte, N.C.
- Nashville, Tenn.
You can read the full list
here.
Washington DC was not the only area city to make the list. Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia came in at number 13 and Richmond, Virginia was ranked number 23 in the Orkin mosquito city rankings.