The Province is reminding us that this is the right time of year to keep mosquitoes and the West Nile Virus in mind.

The Medical Officer of Health for the Calgary Zone of AHS, Jason Cabaj says the best way to avoid it is to now get bitten by one of the pesky little critters.

"Wearing long-sleeved clothing when possible, light coloured clothing, donning a hat, using insect repellent with DEET, and minimizing their time during peak hours of activity for the mosquitoes, which are at dawn and dusk, and then as well eliminating any standing water and breeding ground for mosquitoes," Cabaj says.

In one form of West Nile there are usually no symptoms while there are two other types, the less serious, has flu-like symptoms and the other can lead to brain infections and paralysis.

"The West Nile's been in North America since 1999 and in Alberta since since 2003," he says." 2003 and and 2007 were really high activity years, since 2007 there's been lower activity and we actually over the last two seasons didn't have any West Nile activity in Alberta, there were in other provinces but it's been since 2013 since we've had human cases here in Alberta."

From 2003 to 2015, 680 cases of West Nile virus were confirmed in Alberta, many of which were acquired here in the province.

For more information go to www.fightthebite.info