Jenna Chandler/OC Register
Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District has found an infestation of tropical mosquitoes at a Garden Grove home, where residents reported being bitten during the day by a black-and-white striped species at a time of year when it usually goes into hibernation, a spokesman said Monday.
A female Aedes aegypti mosquito. The mosquito is a vector for the proliferation of the Zika virus.
“It’s a tropical mosquito – it shouldn’t be able to handle cold nighttime temperatures. But here it is in the middle of winter,” spokesman Jared Dever said. “It’s a telltale sign that these mosquitoes will proliferate in Southern California if we don’t do our part to eliminate their breeding sources.”
The announcement came as the World Health Organization declared an international emergency related to the Zika virus, spread by Aedes aegypti, a black-and-white striped mosquito.
By mid-November the species had spread to parts of eight O.C. cities. Tropical mosquitoes can spread the virus that is growing “explosively” through the Americas and possibly causing brain damage in babies. No Zika cases have been reported in the county.
An Orange County Vector control spokesman said Monday that the agency has found a new infestation at a Garden Grove home, where residents reported being bitten during the day by black-and-white striped mosquitoes.
The WHO declaration on Monday that Zika and its suspected link to clusters of the birth defect microcephaly should resonate with Orange County residents.
Zika, and the other diseases transmitted by tropical mosquitoes – including dengue and chikungunya – isn’t spread person to person. To spread the virus, a mosquito, typically the Aedes aegypti, first has to bite someone who is infected, then bite someone else. Most people who are infected don’t have symptoms and those who do rarely require hospitalization.
But public health officials say there is strong evidence that pregnant women who are infected by zika are passing the virus on to their unborn babies through the placenta.
On Friday, vector control collected from the Garden Grove property about a half-dozen containers filled with pupae and larvae.
As temperatures drop into the 50s, 40s, and 30s, the non-native mosquitoes continue biting and breeding. It wouldn’t be uncommon for the hardy eggs to survive even in freezing temperatures, but it is surprising that they are hatching and developing at a normal pace in cold temperatures, said Bill Walton, a professor of entomology at UC Riverside.
Throughout the winter, vector control officials have visited homes in the infestation areas to collect samples and educate residents about how to eradicate breeding sources.
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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mosquitoes-702364-tropical-county.html
