West Nile Virus Scare in California

The California Department of Public Health West Nile Virus Website reports that there was a new West Nile Virus positive mosquito sample reported in California this week from Contra Costa County also one dead crow and 3 sentinel chickens have tested positive for the WNV.

KMPH-TV website quotes Tim Phillips, assistant manager of The Fresno Mosquito and Vector Control District as saying, "The mosquitoes in your backyard could potentially kill you or your neighbor, and it's especially true this year, because it's come so early and we are so far behind"

While Mercury News reports that The Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District spokesperson Deborah Bass said, "Finding infected mosquitoes this early is evidence the West Nile danger will be present longer this year than usual". The early warm weather this year not only has sped up the mosquitoes' life cycle, she said, but enables mosquitoes' salivary glands to harbor more of the virus, making them potentially more dangerous.

According to the CDC, the West Nile Virus is a seasonal epidemic in North America that flares up in the summer and continues into the fall.