Population Explosion : After a Rain-Soaked Winter, Mosquitoes Pose Threat to Area

Have no fear, Vectorman is here.

Clad in a red bodysuit, sunshine-yellow cape and high-top sneakers, he is the mascot of Orange County’s Vector Control District, and he’s ready to help fight the pesky, disease-carrying mosquitoes that promise to plague Southern California this summer.

“The goal is to reduce the number of mosquitoes--it’s as simple as that--and we want the public’s help,” said Fred Beams, assistant manager of the district and a sort of real live Vectorman, minus the cape.

“Help us,” Beams said, encouraging county residents to report large puddles and standing water in their neighborhood so the district can provide mosquito-eating fish or insecticides. “We’re not going to come out and fine you, we’re not going to come out and hassle you, we want to help.”

Fresh from the unseasonal weekend downpour that capped one of California’s rainiest winters, the county’s vector-catchers on Monday hosted one of four Mosquito Awareness Days across the state. Similar sessions took place simultaneously in Fresno, San Jose and Sacramento.

Color photographs, diagrams, traps, lab samples and the tiny pests themselves were on display in the district’s conference room as mosquito fighters from across Southern California explained how people can help keep the pesky, and yes, dangerous flying insects from ruining their summer.

Though many believe that Southern California is immune to mosquitoes, 21 species of the flying bugs have been identified in Orange County. There are as many as 3,400 different kinds of mosquitoes around the world.

Warm weather speeds up mosquitoes’ life cycles, and the extra rain promises fertile ground.

“We have not seen an indication that it’s going to be a tremendously higher year in terms of mosquito numbers, but the water’s there, so there’s potential,” Beams said. “It’s just a matter of mosquitoes dropping enough eggs and it’s an explosion.”

Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water--swimming pools, streams, puddles and ponds, and the bottoms of buckets or trash cans are prime breeding grounds. The preflight mosquitoes must remain wet throughout the larva (infant) and pupa (cocoon) stages, but they take wing when they reach maturity, after about a week.

It is the adult female, desperate for animal or human blood to help it reproduce, that bites. It is also the adult female that carries diseases such as encephalitis, which starts with flu-like symptoms but can lead to coma, severe brain damage or even death.

Female mosquitoes live three to four weeks and seek “blood meals,” a thirst-quenching bite of you or someone you love, every couple of days. They lay batches of 200 to 400 eggs--about half of which will also be female--a couple of times during their life span.

They pick up encephalitis from biting birds, particularly sparrows or finches, that carry the virus without falling sick. Then they spread the disease by choosing a human for their next blood meal.

In 1984, an encephalitis epidemic struck 26 Southern California residents, killing six, including one person in Orange County.

Beams and other vector-control experts said Monday that the best way to protect against getting bitten is to wear long sleeves and use insect repellent. But he encouraged county residents to help prevent mosquitoes from multiplying in the first place.

The $4-million vector control district, funded about 80% through property taxes, cruises the county dumping mosquito-eating fish or insecticide into any standing water on public or private land. To prevent mosquitoes from swarming, people should empty buckets of water, keep swimming pools circulating and chlorinated, and call vector control at (714) 971-2421 if they notice the pests nearby, Beams said.

On Monday the laboratory was turned inside out for show and tell.

In one corner, speck-like pests buzzed around in petri dishes, projected through a microscope onto a television screen in frightening proportion, literally larger than life. In another, translucent yellow fish slithered to and fro in a small tank, fresh mosquito larvae in their bellies.

Across the room were sacks of charcoal pellets and crumbs of corncob laced with insecticide.

The New Jersey Light Trap--a rickety cylinder that attracts mosquitoes to a light bulb, sucks them down with a fan then traps them in a chemically treated cup that kills--sat on a counter. Forty-six distinct species of dead bugs lay in neat rows on a glass-covered tray. Hundreds of live ones scurried about in a tank nearby.

Overseeing it all was Vectorman, a cardboard cartoon character used to help educate the county’s schoolchildren about mosquitoes and other disease-toting creatures. And stacked next to the informational coloring books starring Vectorman was a hand-drawn full-color portrait of--who else?--Vectorwoman.

“Thank you Vectorman, you made me want to check my house for vectors,” wrote a crayon-competent student after a presentation at her school. “Now I’ve become Vectorwoman!”

The Truth about Mosquitoes

Myth: There are no mosquitoes in Southern California. Fact: Twenty-one species have been identified in Orange County. Several can transmit diseases to humans.

Myth: Vector-borne diseases only occur in undeveloped tropical regions. Fact: Migrating birds, globe-trotting tourists or alien mosquitoes can carry and spread diseases around cities or rural areas whenever mosquitoes are out of control. Outbreaks of encephalitis hit Southern California in 1952 and 1984, and malaria epidemics plagued the region in 1986, 1988 and 1989.

Myth: Malaria and other exotic diseases are minor problems compared to AIDS. Fact: World Health Organization believes that insect-borne diseases will kill millions of people worldwide in the next decade.

Myth: Mosquito control harms the environment, birds and fish. Fact: Modern control methods target only juvenile mosquitoes and do not accumulate in the environment.

Source: Orange County Vector Control District

Keeping Mosquitoes at Bay

Winter’s heavy rains may bring this summer’s mosquito masses. How to fight off mosquitos around the house: Dump water from open containers. Cover swimming pools or clean every day with filter and skimmer. Put mosquitofish in ponds, fountains or other bodies of water that cannot be drained. The two-inch-long fish eat mosquito larvae and may be obtained free from Orange County Vector Control District. Make sure screens fit securely. For clothes and body, use repellents with the active ingredient diethyltolumide. For more information, call Orange County Vector Control District, (714) 971-2421.

How They Bite Only the female mosquito bites. She pierces the skin, draws blood and leaves behind a saliva that causes an itchy welt. Source: Orange County Vector Control District