Summer may be winding down, but with the hot, wet weather the Chicago area has been having, pests like mosquitoes and ticks remain a big concern.

But there are efforts under way to warn them off.

On an August evening in Chicago, you're likely to hear lots of cicadas. The 17-year cicadas that emerge in spring won't be back until 2041, but the scissor-grinder cicadas come every year and can get a bit noisy between July and early October.

But cicadas are harmless. Mosquitoes are not.

In Palmer Square Park in Logan Square on Thursday, Reagan Wright and Marissa Orlove were sitting cross-legged in the grass — hearing the buzz of those cicadas, but complaining about the skeeters.

"Mosquitoes are definitely not really fun this summer, I guess you could say," said Wright. "They are ever, you know, here. They're always here."

On Thursday night, mosquito abatement trucks were set to spray the Avondale and Logan Square neighborhoods throughout the night in hopes of cutting down on the pests.

Right now, the Cook County Department of Public Health says the risk of humans getting the West Nile virus from mosquitoes is high — so high, in fact, that nearly every city, village, and town in Cook County has detected the virus.

The department said close to 60% of samples are testing positive for West Nile.

"The rate at which mosquitoes are testing positive right now, at least in Cook County, is higher at this time of the year than we were last year, or the two years prior to that," said epidemiologist Dr. Katrine Wallace of the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.

So far in Illinois, three people have contracted West Nile this year. Doctors say symptoms don't always show until two weeks after the bite, so these numbers could bump up even more in the coming weeks.

"Most cases that we will have will be unreported, because most people will have either no symptoms or very mild symptoms," Wallace said.

The number of people needing emergency care for tick bites has also reached its highest level in eight years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a rise in Lyme disease, and ticks are popping up in a lot of areas where people are not familiar with their risks.

Dr. Wallace said there is a common denominator for the increase in ticks and mosquitoes.

"We're seeing an increase in mosquito activity year-over-year anyway because of changing temperatures in North America," said Wallace.

Doctors are urging people to protect themselves by applying bug repellent with DEET, draining standing water around their homes. Repairing torn window screens, and limiting time outdoors at dawn and dusk.