Invasive yellow fever mosquitoes detected across Sacramento area
WOODLAND — Sacramento-area officials are on the lookout for a type of mosquito capable of spreading dangerous diseases. Its proliferation is so much of a concern that authorities are now asking the public for help spotting it.
David Smith with Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District walked through the backyard of this Land Park home looking for something specific.
That is mosquito larvae from the Aedes aegypti, or yellow fever mosquitoes. They can carry debilitating diseases like dengue, chikungunya or zika, which can lead to birth defects.
These mosquitoes differ from our native so-called "house mosquitoes."
"What's unique about these day-biting mosquitoes, or Aedes aegypti mosquitos, is the way that they breed, the way that they lay their eggs," Smith said.
They can lay eggs in something as small as a bottle cap and the eggs can survive even without water for six months to a year, making them hard to detect and treat.
"So the district first discovered invasive mosquitoes back in 2019 in the city of Citrus Heights in one small area," said Luz Maria Robles, with the control district. "However, by the next year in 2020, we found another large infestation in Winters."
A map shows the Aedes aegypti is now in the Natomas, Rosemont, and Land Park areas. It's one of two invasive species of mosquito here in the Sacramento area.
"Once we detect mosquitoes in a certain area via our traps, we go door to door asking residents to let us in their backyards so we can conduct inspections, provide education," Maria Robles said. "We do surveillance for these mosquitoes, traps."
Crews found Aedes aegypti larvae in several containers with standing water, including a bird bath filled with leaves in the shade.