Mosquito Warning Posted Around Santa Fe Dam

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has posted the Santa Fe Recreational Dam area in Irwindale with “mosquito warning” signs advising the public on precautionary measures to avoid exposure to mosquitoes. Evidence of St. Louis encephalitis virus has been detected in chickens tested during a routine surveillance.

Mosquitoes can transmit the SLE virus to humans. The virus can cause inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Most infections in humans are mild in severity, but symptoms can range from simple headache and fever to confusion, paralysis, coma and even death. Humans acquire the disease only through the bite of a mosquito that has become infected by biting birds carrying the virus.