The combination of warmer weather and almost daily rains across most of the state is providing the perfect conditions for breeding mosquitoes.
It's also hindering mosquito control officials who spray for the pests during the day, only to see insecticides washed away at night.
"It's hitting us pretty hard," said Daniel Massingale, director of the Stuttgart Mosquito Control program. Stuttgart, in northwest Arkansas County, is known locally as the "Mosquito Capital of the World" because of its proximity to scores of rice fields.
"We're seeing peak activity now," Massingale said. "People are essentially getting swarmed every time they go outside."
Because Arkansas' spring was much cooler than normal this year, mosquitoes remained dormant, and the larvae that normally appear in April and May are just now hatching. And rains that began in mid-April and continued through June have brought the moisture needed for breeding mosquitoes.
In a 60-day period between April 11 and June 9, Jonesboro received 14.34 inches of rain -- 5.34 inches more than what normally falls during that period. Little Rock measured 13.79 inches of rain during those 60 days, which was 4.2 inches more than normal.
El Dorado saw 2.59 inches of rain more than normal, and Pine Bluff recorded 3.64 inches above the average rainfall during the 60-day period.
Only Fayetteville reported a decrease in rainfall. Its 6.26 inches of rain between April 11 and June 9 were 4.44 inches below average for the Northwest Arkansas city, said National Weather Service warning coordinator John Robinson of North Little Rock.
"We are getting much more rain now in late June than what you would normally expect for this time," Robinson said. "There's [continuous] low pressure aloft that helps set up these rains."
With the increase of mosquitoes this year comes concern of a virus transmitted by mosquitoes that is now encroaching on the United States.
The Florida Department of Health has reported 10 cases this year of chikungunya, a viral infection normally found in Africa and the Caribbean that is carried by mosquitoes.
North Carolina has seen two cases so far.
One Arkansan has been infected but was bitten while on vacation in the Caribbean, said Susan Weinstein, public health veterinarian for the Arkansas Department of Health.
The disease is rarely fatal, Weinstein said. Symptoms of chikungunya include painful joints, headache, nausea and rashes.
A fever can last for a few days, but pain may last for up to two years, she said.
Weinstein said the type of mosquitoes that carry the disease, the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are common in Arkansas.
"It's not here yet," she said of the virus in Arkansas. "But it went from Africa and rushed through the Caribbean in just a few years. We have the right mosquitoes. It would be unrealistic to think it's not going to enter the U.S."
The Aedes mosquitoes are more aggressive than those carrying the West Nile virus, which was identified in the United States in 1999 and continues to affect Arkansans. Seven people died from the virus in the state in 2012, and one died last year, according to Health Department records.
Most people who carry the West Nile virus have no symptoms, but some will develop a fever with headache, body aches, joint pain, nausea, diarrhea or rashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fewer than 1 percent of those infected develop serious neurological illnesses that are sometimes fatal, the agency's website said.
"We had been saying to be particularly aware of mosquitoes during dusk and dawn," Weinstein said.
"That's when the West Nile mosquitoes generally came out. The chikungunya mosquitoes are daytime biters.
"The West Nile mosquitoes are found in floodwater areas. The chikungunya mosquitoes live around our homes," she said.
"The chikungunya ones are much more aggressive, and they prefer biting people. We are their main targets."
Weinstein urged people to wear long-sleeved shirts when outside in mosquito-infested areas and use insect repellent with DEET. She also suggested residents check for anything in their yards that could collect water -- such as cans, cups, flower pots and old tires -- and provide breeding areas for mosquitoes.
Because of the constant rains, cities such as Stuttgart are seeing more mosquitoes in urban areas.
"Watering the rice fields has always increased the activity of mosquitoes," Massingale said.
"But they stay out of the town. With more rain in town, we're seeing much more activity. We're seeing a lot of day biters."
On Friday evening, Massingale planned to fill insecticide into a tail-mounted misting device on the city's airplane and fly over Stuttgart.
"We're seeing hatchings every day," he said. "If it wasn't for our mosquito control, Stuttgart would be unlivable."
Farther north, B.J. Greene, an employee of Producers Rice Mill in Wilson, said rice farmers near the Mississippi County town are talking about the increase in mosquitoes.
"It's pretty bad," he said. "They'll tear you off."
Greene lives near Tyronza in Crittenden County, where mosquitoes are also frequently found.
"I like staying outdoors," he said. "But I live in the country, and you can hear the mosquitoes. They sound like bunches of airplanes coming in."
After a brief reprieve from the rain early this week, meteorologists expect a chance of rain to return to the state Tuesday through Thursday, Robinson said.
Long-range forecasts also call for normal or above average amounts of rain.
"If there is anything good from the rain, it can't heat up as much," he said. "The sun's energy is spent evaporating all the water rather than heating."
State Desk on 06/30/2014