VALDOSTA — With mosquito season here, city and county officials want the public’s help in battling the tiny terrors.

More than a million people around the world die annually from mosquito-borne diseases, according to the American Mosquito Control Association. Among the diseases mosquitoes carry are dengue fever, malaria, zika and West Nile virus.

Both Lowndes County and the City of Valdosta take part in a program involving trapping, counting and identifying mosquitoes and mosquito types in the area. The project, funded by Lowndes County, involves an entomologist (insect expert) at Valdosta State University.

“There are seven collection sites for the mosquitoes,” said Anthony Musgrove, Valdosta’s public works superintendent.

On the skeeter battlefront, the city started rolling its spray truck in early April, he said. The truck makes a circuit of the city daily, Musgrove said.

Once a month, workers make a check of city-owned properties to treat stagnant water with a larvicide, he said.

City residents can help by policing their properties and dumping containers with standing water, robbing mosquitoes of a breeding site, Musgrove said.

Lowndes County created a mosquito control program in 2001 due to an increase in residential development and the discovery of a local case of West Nile virus in a bird, said Paige Dukes, county clerk and public information officer for the county.

Both the city and county offer free larvicide for homeowners. County residents can pick up free packets from the Lowndes County Public Works facility at 550 Gil Harbin Industrial Boulevard, while city residents can get larvicide from the Valdosta Public Works Department, 1017 Myrtle St.,

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.