Warmer Temperatures Bring Zika Virus Concerns To Sacramento Area
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — As hotter temperatures move in, so does mosquito season and concerns about the Zika virus.
Vector control officials are on alert tonight, saying the mosquitoes that carry Zika are different from the one's we're used to.
Typically, the ones we're used to mean avoiding being outside during dusk and dawn, but the ones that carry the Zika virus bite during the day. It's something officials with the Sac-Yolo Vector Control District want people to be ready for.
To the average person, a mosquito bite is just a mosquito bite, but paying attention to when you're bit is key. Two types of mosquitoes primarily carry the Zika virus—Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus—and they haven't yet been detected in Sacramento or Yolo counties. The closes has been in San Mateo, Madera, Fresno and Los Angeles.
Since the invasive insects bite during the day, the district wants you to report it.
"If we get a lot of calls of people being bothered by day biting mosquitoes we will have our technicians go out and do an inspection," said Luz Maria Robles.
They have a distinct look to them.
"They have bands on their legs, dark colored mosquito, which are very different from the mosquitoes we have here," she said.
They don't fly far, staying close to where they lay their eggs. While the threat is not in the immediate area, tracking them down is a top priority.
"We would catch them in the traps we're currently using, if we do find them we would go back to the area they were found, set up additional traps," she said.
Some experts say the aerial spraying or fogging from a truck typically used on mosquitoes we're used to may not have an effect on the Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Those methods will be evaluated if the mosquitoes are detected.