SEWER MONSTERS

An insect invasion is terrorizing New York City homeowners, making life miserable, even dangerous, for many families. Parents have been forced to take extreme measures to protect their children and their homes.

CBS 2's Dave Carlin investigates the growing Upper West Side mosquito mystery.

These rare mosquitoes are extra blood-thirsty and active year-round. Carlin saw some of them in a lab after they were collected in the unlikeliest of places, Bernard Lagan's home on West 84th Street.

"They trapped 150 mosquitoes in the basement in a 24-hour period coming from underground and into the basement and up in to the house through the air vents and it's the same story as the other brownstones on this block," Lagan told Carlin.

It's an invasion that has almost every resident of 84th Street between Riverside and West End Avenue slapping, scratching and suffering.

"They're hungry. They're hungry," said resident Susan Nicholson.

"Three on this ear; one on his cheek; one on his neck," another woman said, illustrating the bites on one of her children. "And there are some on his arms going up his arm."

Frustrated neighbors said after numerous complaints to the city and no concrete action, they feel abandoned. So like busy bees, they're taking matters in to their own hands: covering cracks, vents and drains, both inside and out.

"Every vent is covered with mesh. It helps. It cuts it by 50 percent," resident Pauline Galiana said.

In bedrooms on the block you see mosquito netting over the beds. Residents told Carlin it is the only way to get an uninterrupted pain-free night of sleep.

"This mosquito is well known for being in sewers in New York," said Dina Fonseca, a professor at the Rutgers Center for Vector Biology

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Pets & Animals

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