Record numbers of mosquitoes plague Fla.

TITUSVILLE, Fla., Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida say mosquito breeding in marshes, ponds and puddles along the state's so-called Space Coast has hit historic levels.

Officials with Brevard County Mosquito Control said Friday they would spray mosquito-killing pesticides across more than 3 million acres by summer's end, the highest total in at least 15 years.

Brevard's annual average is roughly 2 million acres sprayed.

"It seems that Mother Nature is definitely working against us," Brevard mosquito control director Craig Simmons told Florida Today. "This is the longest season in the memory of anyone working at the department."

New broods of mosquitoes are hatching five to seven days after every rainstorm, sending tens of millions of the biting pests airborne, officials said.

Although the salt marsh mosquitoes in the latest invasion are aggressive biters, no virus-transmission disease cases have been reported this season in Brevard County, mosquito control supervisor Mike Brown said.