Enjoy wildlife from a distance Adam McAllister , Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. They're under the deck, hanging from the rafters or buzzing around your head. Raccoons that harbour parasites. Rabid bats. Mosquitoes with West Nile virus.

While you shouldn't view the backyard with mounting paranoia, you should be aware summer is prime time for some nasty zoonotic diseases – those passed from animals to humans – that lurk in the bird bath and fester on the deck.

The summer's biggest public health threat in the GTA is West Nile, which is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has fed on an infected bird. Last year, 42 cases were reported to the provincial health ministry, six in Toronto.

City dwellers shouldn't feel safer than cottage owners. Associate medical officer of health Dr. Howard Shapiro warns some of the worst areas for West Nile are in downtown Toronto, south of Eglinton Ave. "We're not sure why," he said. "It could be because of the trees, the creeks, the homes are older with no air conditioning so the screens are open, or more people are just out and about."

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