Lee Griffen has received about two dozen calls in the past few weeks from residents and business owners who wonder when El Paso County Public Health is going to come out and treat for mosquitoes.

"I explain to them that we don't have a program, but here are some ways you can do it," said Griffen, environmental health supervisor with the health department's Environmental Health Division.

The health department eliminated its mosquito control program in 2008 because of budget reductions, but even when it was alive and well, it never handled treatment on private property. Now, with a surge in West Nile virus cases across the United States, El Paso County Public Health is getting calls about treatment, although no human cases have been confirmed in the county.

But mosquitoes are here, and they're biting, according to the calls Griffen has received. Health department officials say that while they don't do surveillance, they know mosquitoes infected with West Nile are likely in the county — especially because they've been here before. Human cases have been reported in neighboring Douglas and Fremont counties.

Read the complete story in the Colorado Springs Gazette.