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SALT LAKE CITY — Most people probably don't find mosquitos beautiful.
But most people aren't Ary Faraji.
The Salt Lake City mosquito abatement manager is fond of telling people that mosquito-borne illnesses have killed more people during war than bullets or weapons ever have.
And their ability to evolve quickly means they quickly outgrow and outwit many vaccines and have an outsized impact on human populations.
"We've been two years away from a malaria vaccine for the last 100 years, and I don't know if that's ever going to come," Faraji said. "Mosquitos are just so dynamic."
Public health workers are gearing up for a race against the mosquito yet again as the country braces for the Zika virus' first summer in the U.S.
Utah, which finds itself on the outskirts of Zika's expected transmission area, is adding more staff, more traps and more surveillance in an effort to cast a watchful net over Zika-carrying mosquitos.
Teams starting at 7 a.m. are dumping out horse troughs and wheelbarrows.
Workers on bicycles are scattering pesticide along gutters and catch basins.
Workers are adding larvae-eating fish to ornamental pools and small ponds.
It doesn't help that the species of mosquito that carries Zika, Aedes aegypti, differs in many ways from the West Nile-carrying mosquitos more typical in Utah.
To keep an eye on Aedes aegypti, mosquito abatement workers bought specific traps modified to emit chemicals that mimic human scents — ammonia, lactic acid and other amino acids, Faraji said.
And because Aedes aegypti tend to like urban areas, workers are concentrating on cities rather than the usual floodwater areas and marshes.
They tend to like artificial containers like tires, buckets and plant saucers, making surveillance more challenging for mosquito control workers in a city of 70,000 residences.
"I can go to almost anybody's home and find some sort of a container that might be holding water," Faraji said. "That saucer that may be holding your potted plant — the extra water from your plant may accumulate in the bottom of that habitat."
Still, experts say it’s highly unlikely to see local Zika transmission in Utah this summer due to the state’s arid climate and altitude.
Aedes aegypti mosquitos have been seen just once in recent years, in Washington County, where mosquito abatement workers caught six specimens in 2013.
Southwest Mosquito Abatement and Control District manager Sean Amodt said he suspects the mosquitos traveled on or in an RV or vehicle and were released in southern Utah.
"We went door-to-door with the homeowners association in that particular area," Amodt said. "We even dumped out dog dishes just to make sure we were getting rid of all the potential for them."
That winter was so cold that many palm trees froze and died in the area, likely killing off any chance for the mosquitos to establish, according to Amodt.
Still, he said, better safe than sorry. The Southwest Mosquito Abatement and Control District has hired more seasonal employees and upped its surveillance of certain areas to twice instead of once a week.
"The gestation time for a mosquito is a lot less down south here because it's so hot," Amodt said. "Anything over 50 degrees as the low for the evening, you're going to have mosquitos reproducing within about three to four days."
Most of the local health departments have been absorbing the extra costs of Zika protection, said Utah Department of Health spokesman Tom Hudachko.
He said the state health department is in the process of applying for about $826,000 in Zika funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That amount should be adequate "based on what we know right now," said Hudachko, noting that the majority of the funds will be distributed to the state's 13 local health departments.
Congress' deadlock over Zika funding has been anxiety-inducing for many Southern and Gulf Coast states where Aedes aegypti is established.
In Utah, there isn't that sense of panic, said Salt Lake County Health Department Executive Director Gary Edwards.
"If we were in the state of Florida, I'd probably have a different answer," Edwards said. "Nobody had heard of Zika much before last year. So it is pulling away from other activities."
Still, Edwards is looking forward to receiving the emergency funding — even if it isn't expected to arrive until August, long after mosquito season has already started, he said.
Edwards and other public health officials said they don’t want Zika concerns to overshadow what they say remains the biggest danger to Utahns this summer: West Nile virus.
"I think the public's gotten tired of hearing those things, but West Nile virus is still real and a threat in Utah," he said.
When it comes to West Nile virus, health officials' basic instructions haven't changed: Surveil your home and backyard for standing water. Cover up from dusk to dawn. Use mosquito repellent — the strong kind, around 20 percent to 30 percent DEET, which is safe for pregnant women and works better than supposedly “natural” methods, according to Amodt.
Mosquito abatement managers also urge members of the public to alert authorities if they see standing water or mosquito activity.
"Even today I got a phone call about an abandoned pool, so we went and checked on that," Amodt said. "No one was even living at that house — so who is going to call and say, 'Hey, we've got a mosquito problem?'
“Luckily, someone noticed it," he added. "Without help from the public, it would be impossible."
