Mosquitoes thrive in hot weather. And even though we’ve had a mild summer, mosquito populations haven’t dropped off much. William Reisen is an entomologist with the Center for Vector Born Diseases at UC Davis.
“We’ve had sort of intermediate spells of hot weather that have kick-started the amplification. If we didn’t have this cooling off at night I think we’d be at much higher levels of transmission.”
So far 52 dead birds and 113 mosquito samples have tested positive for West Nile virus in Sacramento County this year.
Reisen says we could see even more magpies, crows and scrub jays dying from the disease.
“This time of the year they’re just finishing their nesting and you have all their offspring which haven’t seen the virus before, this year. So there’s a lot of fuel for the amplification of the virus.”
Tonight will be the first night of spraying over parts of North Sacramento and Roseville.
“We’ve had sort of intermediate spells of hot weather that have kick-started the amplification. If we didn’t have this cooling off at night I think we’d be at much higher levels of transmission.”
So far 52 dead birds and 113 mosquito samples have tested positive for West Nile virus in Sacramento County this year.
Reisen says we could see even more magpies, crows and scrub jays dying from the disease.
“This time of the year they’re just finishing their nesting and you have all their offspring which haven’t seen the virus before, this year. So there’s a lot of fuel for the amplification of the virus.”
Tonight will be the first night of spraying over parts of North Sacramento and Roseville.