County officials in Santa Clara warned on Monday that a species of mosquito that feeds “almost exclusively on humans” was found there.
The Vector Control District of the county found Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in a Santa Clara neighbourhood. The district found 58 bugs near Moraine Drive and Agate Drive.
Aedes aegypti are not from California. Native mosquitoes in the area tend to bite at dawn and dusk, but Aedes aegypti bites all day and night.
“Soon, the district will start treatment to get rid of the aggressive species.” “The goal is to stop the invasive insect from setting up a permanent population,” wrote people in charge of vector control.
Vector control officials went on to say, “If Aedes aegypti gets a foothold in Santa Clara County, it will not only threaten public health but also lower our quality of life because these mosquitoes are very active and aggressive.”
Early this year, the non-native mosquitoes were found in Gilroy and East San Jose.
The head of the county’s Environmental Protection Agency, Edgar Nolasco, said, “We are doing everything we can to stop Aedes aegypti from becoming established in Santa Clara County, and we urgently need the public’s help.”
“Residents of the affected areas need to work with district staff and let them check their homes for mosquitoes and places where mosquitoes like to live.”
Staff from the district are working to get rid of all mosquitoes by trapping adult mosquitoes, checking homes for mosquito larvae and places where they can live, and applying pesticide to the larvae.
The district will use more mosquito-control methods, such as backpack spraying, barrier spraying, and spraying over large areas with tools on a truck.
This species has black and white lines on its back and is about a quarter-inch long. “It almost always eats people,” vector officials wrote.
Several viruses, such as those that cause dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever, can be spread by Aedes aegypti insects.
They only fly about 500 feet from where they hatch, so they don’t go very far.
Small, man-made water sources, like pet dishes, bird baths, and plant pots, are where these bugs lay their eggs. The eggs can go without water for more than a year after they are laid.
People should take a look around their land and get rid of any standing water they find. Each egg is about 0.5 mm across and looks like a very small piece of dirt.
