SAN DIEGO — Preventive measures to thwart mosquito attacks are coming by air this week in San Diego County.

According to the County of San Diego Communications Office, the first routine aerial larvicide drop of the year is scheduled for Wednesday and possibly Thursday across roughly 50 local waterways.

A helicopter will release larvicide drops over nearly 1,300 acres of potential mosquito breeding areas that officials say are “hard-to-reach.” This includes areas of standing water in rivers, streams, ponds and other waterways.

The aerial larvicide drops will continue once a month until October in an effort to stop mosquitoes from potentially spreading diseases like West Nile, the communications office explained.

Officials say that the drops are not harmful to people or pets. On the contrary, the insecticide kills mosquito larvae before it can grow into biting mosquitoes.

The full aerial larvicide schedule, along with more information, can be found here.

The county says there have been no reported West Nile virus detections so far this year; however, San Diego County Vector Control uses this strategy as a preventive measure.