A couple of miles down a gravel road in the relative isolation of Horsethief Canyon, the Grand River Mosquito Control District is setting up traps; keeping potentially dangerous mosquitos in their cross-hairs, and trying to keep you safe.
     

"We sometimes hang traps out here and monitor mosquito activity out here because it does eventually bleed over into our control area and affects the people in Fruita," manager at GRMCD Zane McCallister said. 
     

Experts say there's about 3,000 different species of mosquitoes, 26 of which we see here on the Western Slope.

"There are three culex species here in the valley and culex is the spread of West Nile so those are the ones we typically pay close attention to and those are the ones we hand over to the health department for testing," McCallister said. 

McCallister says they're catching thousands of these insects each week, and it's only a matter of time before more people are diagnosed with west nile.

"It will generally take between three and five weeks to actually even come out," he said. "They have to get sick, they have to go to the doctor, and then the doctor has to send in a blood test and the blood test has to come back positive."

The disease can be deadly. Already two people have died from it locally. But there can be lingering danger even if you fight off the disease.

"There are very few people, but few people do die from West Nile and it's tragic," McCallister said. "And another tragedy from West Nile is a lot of people end up with encephalitis or meningitis."

The only way to end the West Nile season is with fall temperatures.

"Some people would make the case the mosquitoes do have a role to play but right now a good freeze would kill these boogers and help us get past this," McCallister said.