The Associated Press is reporting a wetter-than-normal spring in the Northeast has produced an exceptionally large number of mosquitoes, leading to concerns about a potential spike in mosquito-borne illnesses. The rainfall saturated the ground in Maine, creating standing water required for mosquitoes to breed, and mosquitoes have been especially bad on Maine’s coast. It was rainier than usual in many other parts of the country, as well. However, an epidemiologist for the Main Center for Disease Control said it is too early to say if this means an increase in West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis. For mosquito-borne illnesses to become a big problem, a concentration of the right mosquito species along with the presence of the virus, must coincide. Human cases of Eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile tend to appear in mid- to late summer, if they appear at all. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.