Things you need to know today... the reported number of west nile virus cases in wisconsin has gone up over the last two years... wtih an increase in the number of cases of the potentially deadly virus... news 8s alec giannakopoulos has details on how to stay mosquito free.

West nile virus in wisconsin jumped up from 13 reported cases to 51 cases from 2016 to 2017.

While those numbers are still low... it's important to know how to stay safe, and how many pests like mosquitoes to expect this summer.

"if we keep having wet, warm days those are perfect for mosquitoes" with warmer temperatur es, the summer months also bring unwanted pests..

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With the amount of rain recently one might think that it automatically means more insects... "mosquitoes are very temperature dependent so if it's cooler, we did have a pretty cool spring even though it was wet, they might not be as heavy... it's just a wait and see, there's not really a way of predicting..."

Regardless of the amount of mosquioes we see this year, the city is preparing to keep the disease carriers at bay "this is the second year where we've made an adjustment in the mosquito control program.

We started it last year we were really only focusing on the two types of mosquitoes that cause disease."

The ones that cary west nile and la crosse encephalitis can breed in your backyard.

"they actually breed more in containers, artifical containers such as a nutella snack container."

With the county focusing on just the ones that can be lethal, they won't be treating the nuisence bugs that can ruin a night out.

So what's the best way to keep them at a distance?

"there's a lot of different bug sprays out on the market, some many contain a little deet which is good because that does not only repel mosquitoes but it repels ticks.

The amount of deet that's present in bugsprays currently is not harmful to us."

At the same time, there are certain bug prodcuts you should avoid if you want to save your money as well as your skin "you might have heard of those sound waves that send out a sound that prevents mosquitoes those don't work, they've done research it's not very practical."

There are different levels of deet in bug sprays... so if you want less of the chemical you can opt for those.

But you will have to reapply more often.

?what about gnats?

How do we prepare for them?

Gnats are repelled by deet as awell, so if your deet bug spray will keep them out of your yard as well.