Officials Issue Warning of Mosquito Danger
Some mosquitoes in the San Fernando Valley are carrying a potentially fatal strain of encephalitis that is particularly dangerous to the very young and the old, a county Health Department official warned Friday.
Officials issued the warning after the St. Louis encephalitis virus was found among a flock of “sentinel” chickens during a routine inspection at Sepulveda Basin in Encino Friday morning, said Dr. Shirley Fannin, the department’s director of disease control.
Mosquitoes pass the virus to humans by biting them.
Because mosquitoes breed in stagnant water, Fannin cautioned San Fernando Valley residents to drain areas around houses where water collects and to keep swimming pools well chlorinated.
The St. Louis encephalitis strain, which can cause headaches and fever, has sickened 24 persons in Los Angeles, killing one, since it first appeared in the county in 1983, Fannin said. The last reported case in the county occurred in 1991.
Although there is no cure for the virus, healthy adults are not usually at risk of death, Fannin said.
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