Experts: Calif. will see more disease-carrying mosquitoes
By Joshua Emerson Smith, Los Angeles Times
Two types of nonnative mosquitoes that can transmit potentially fatal diseases have spread throughout California, and their populations could explode come spring.
The mosquitoes’ expansion of territory was largely attributed to abnormally warm weather in the summer and fall.
“It was quicker and more widespread than any of us could have anticipated,” said Chris Conlan, an ecologist with the San Diego County Vector Control Program.
The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) can carry diseases linked to birth defects, painful illness and tens of thousands of deaths around the world each year.
As of yet there have been no actual in state transmissions of Dengue Fever or Chikungunya. “Yet” being the key word. Both of these diseases are not highly life threatening but can make life very uncomfortable for some time with no cure. So far in California the cases of both of these have been from folks traveling to sub tropical locations. But with these two highly invasive species of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus that thrive in the urban environment and are quite tricky to surveil without homeowners help and vigilance, it’s simply a matter of time before we see local transmission. Recently on the Big Island of Hawai’i there was an outbreak of Dengue that numbered 202 cases.
And in Brazil there is a newly emerging vector borne disease vectored by both of these mosquito species called Zika. In one year in Brazil the cases went from the hundreds in 2014 into the thousands in 2015. Zika has flu like symptoms very similar to many vector borne diseases but has a high rate of neurological disorders in children born to infected mothers. Just last week the first case of Zika was reported in Puerto Rico.