Mosquitoes: What is there to worry about?

I don't think that many people like mosquitoes, not very much at all. In addition to their pesky buzzing and itchy bites, they are also the vectors of many different diseases, some of them very serious. According to Wikipedia, they are the most deadly disease vector known to man. Malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, West Nile virus, just to name a few. In the past, these diseases have caused millions and millions of deaths across the world. Malaria still is the leading cause of premature mortality with over 5 million deaths every year. The areas most at risk for mosquito-borne illnesses are Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico, and Asia.
Normally, most mosquitoes come out around sunset and are out at night. But in some cases, the mosquitoes prefer to be out during the day time and this fact helps you distinguish between a fairly harmless mosquito and one that you should look out for. The mosquito aedes aegypti is the mosquito that transmits dengue fever, of which the area where I live is at risk for.
It has been very rainy where I live. And normally, when it rains profusely or even just a little bit, the city sprays for mosquitoes, driving through town slowly with trucks dispensing a pesticide into the air. They haven't done it yet and I've seen a bunch of mosquitoes so far! And all in the day time.
After examining the photographs of different mosquitoes, I have been able to pick out a distinguishing characteristic of the aedes aegypti mosquito: on its legs, there are white horizontal stripes, fairly noticable. Now, when I see a mosquito with white spots or segments on its legs, I really watch out. What am I worried about? Dengue fever. Even though there are mosquitoes that transmit a milder form of dengue fever that only has milder symptoms (fever, rash), but what I'm really worried about is dengue hemorragic fever, which has much graver symptoms with a potentially deadly result. Spontaneous bruising, bleeding from mucous membranes, bloody diahrea. Dengue shock syndrome is the result of a very bad dengue infection and has a high mortality rate.
There are plenty of reasons to worry about mosquitoes. But what can you do to help lower the mosquito population safely? Make sure that you don't have any standing water anywhere inside or outside your house. Houseplants, old tires, buckets of rain water, etc. Mosquitoes breed in standing water and you can do alot by just checking to make sure you're not providing them the perfect place.
We can all do our part to ensure good public health, for ourselves and our global neighbors.