Las Vegas' growing mosquito problem is 'a ticking time bomb'

NBC News ^ | August 17, 2025 8:15 AM CDT | Denise Chow

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[Billthedrill]

Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

[Mariner]

Green swimming pools and water features.

[pfflier]

A mix of urban development, climate change, insecticide resistance and genetic adaptations are creating a more hospitable environment for the insects...

They just gotta get it in there.

[skr]

Those are the only “climate change” situations I can think of. Haven’t heard anything about more rain than normal in Nevada.

[waterhill]

Those things can develope in wet grass. Doesn’t take long.

[ansel12]

Kill Them, Kill Them All.

[waterhill]

Pretty sure Bill Gates is on top of it...He’s like superman in a pink sweater....

[fidelis]

If at one time it was thought mosquitoes couldn’t survive in desert climates, this city is a case study in how wrong that is.

Baloney. We have tons of mosquitos in the Phoenix area, probably exacerbated by people with swimming pools and decorative ponds.

As an aside, they don't seem to like the way I taste. People around me can be being eaten alive by mosquitos, but they hardly touch me.

[doc maverick]

All a result of state and government regulations outlawing the use of insecticides. Insect growth regulators and growth inhibitors don’t do jack sh#t. Nothing on the market kills insects ie fleas, mosquitoes, chiggers,etc. Animals are dying from fleas and insect carrying parasitic infections. So are people.

[dljordan]

“Pretty sure Bill Gates is on top of it...He’s like superman in a pink sweater....”

His parents used to have dinner with Margaret Sanger.

[Leaning Right]

> A mix of urban development, climate change, insecticide resistance … <

Every bad thing is due to either climate change or MAGA Republicans.

And sometimes it’s both.

[Racketeer]

People come by the thousands from all over the world daily to Las Vegas and return home soon after. What a perfect opportunity for spreading an issue.

[tophat9000]

Wet grass?... In Las Vegas????

[waterhill]

Industrial chillers on the hotels produce quite a bit of run off. Where does it go?

[dfwgator]

Send in these guys....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCQ0yUSWey4

[Don W]

Cooling towers re-use the same water, losing some to evaporation, and what is released goes through the sewer system.

[yesthatjallen]

"Mosquitoes typically prefer more tropical, humid conditions, but these biting machines have exploded in number throughout the Las Vegas Valley in recent years because of a host of changes."

Or maybe there is water from fountains and canals that should be in a desert. They keep build mosquito breeding grounds that never existed in deserts.

[HerrBlucher]

I’ve been the same way for decades,mosquitoes hate me, they used to eat me alive. I can’t remember the last time I was bitten by mosquito.

[Deaf Smith]

They left out the Zika virus (cone head babies) brought in from the Olympics in Brazil.