“San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District employees were out and about during Tuesday’s storm clearing leaves from drains and gutters so there would be no standing water for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.”
The San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control reports the mosquitoes, eggs and larvae have been found at four locations in Menlo Park near Holy Cross Cemetery in the past week.
The invasive species surfaced last summer in Menlo Park. It’s the first time they’ve been found in the Bay Area in decades, according to Robert Gay, Director of San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control.
The county’s mosquito and vector district is warning county residents to take precautions against tick bites after a Belmont resident possibly contracted Lyme disease following a trip to Water Dog Lake Park.
The risks of exposure are greater in warmer weather because people venture outdoors for hiking, camping and other activities, said Dr. Nayer Zahiri, laboratory director of the San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District.
The West Nile virus was detected in the body of a gray squirrel found in Menlo Park earlier this month, a vector control official announced Monday.
A hawk also tested positive for the virus in June, said Angie Nakano, a vector ecologist with San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control.
Transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, the West Nile virus tends to flare up between the spring and fall, Nakano said, adding that “the virus and mosquitoes multiply faster when it’s warmer.”
A dead bird collected in Woodside tested positive for West Nile virus, the county’s first confirmed case this year which a mosquito expert said may have come earlier this season because of the warm weather.
Two dead squirrels that tested positive for West Nile virus were found this week in San Carlos and Burlingame.
Chindi Peavey, an ecologist with the San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District, said the dead animals are evidence that infected mosquitoes are in the area.
“We use the dead animals as a sentinel to know when we have an infection in mosquitoes,” Peavey said Thursday.
Fears about West Nile-infected mosquitoes in San Mateo County are in the air since a squirrel, which is unlikely to have traveled very far, was confirmed to be carrying the virus.
The case is this year’s first confirmed in the county. The dead squirrel was found July 28.
While the case is not likely to trigger an epidemic, officials at the county’s Mosquito and Vector Control District are concerned that the squirrel may have contracted the virus locally.
A dead squirrel discovered in San Mateo is the first in San Mateo County to test positive for the West Nile virus this year, local scientists
said.
The otherwise unmarked squirrel is a sign of West Nile’s increasing pervasiveness all over California in 2010, Chindi Peavey, laboratory director for the San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District said.
All the April showers — followed by May and June showers — we’ve had this year have been great for aquifers, river ecosystems and farmers.
Unfortunately, they’ve also been great for mosquitoes.
Mosquito abatement teams in San Francisco and the Peninsula are reporting more of the pests in marshes, pools and other standing bodies of water thanks to heavy rains that came late in the season and were often followed by warm fronts.
The start of West Nile virus season was marked by the county’s first reported case of the rare but potentially fatal human disease this year in a dead bird found in the Industrial City.
The dead bird was found by a resident in South San Francisco on May 15 and was taken by authorities to the California Department of Health Services. The state agency determined Wednesday that the bird died from the West Nile virus, officials said.
First let me state that my primary responsibility as your Mayor is to keep you safe. Your City Council has made a decision that may not seem fair to some but it was the right decision.
Our City is kept dry by the excellent condition of our levees. It was brought to our attention several months ago that the ground squirrel burrows along our levee, which range anywhere from five to 30 feet in length and between two to four feet below the soil surface, could compromise the integrity of our levee infrastructure.
Guardian chickens, mineral oil and animal testing are all being used this summer to prevent an increase in mosquitoes in San Mateo County, after South Bay cities experienced a surge in possible carriers of the West Nile virus.
Parts of San Jose, Los Gatos and Campbell are experiencing an increase in mosquitoes that carry the virus. Dead animals are often indicators of West Nile, signs that virus season could be severe in August and September.
The first animal case of West Nile Virus in San Mateo County this year has been found in a squirrel collected July 9 in the city of San Mateo, a San Mateo County Health Department spokeswoman reports.
An eastern grey tree squirrel was found by the San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District, and subsequent testing at the University of California, Davis, concluded it tested positive for the virus, according to spokeswoman Beverly Thames.
Despite a lighter mosquito season in San Mateo County than in previous years, health officials are cautioning residents to be aware of West Nile virus after the first infected animal case was reported in a squirrel found July 9.
The squirrel — an Eastern grey squirrel found in San Mateo — signaled that West Nile season has arrived this year in the county.
The virus has been in the county since 2004, according to the San Mateo County Health Department.
The first animal case of West Nile Virus in San Mateo County this year has been found in a squirrel collected last week in the city of San Mateo, a San Mateo County Health Department spokeswoman said Thursday.
An eastern gray tree squirrel was found July 9 by the San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District, and subsequent testing at the University of California, Davis, concluded it tested positive for the virus, according to spokeswoman Beverley Thames.
San Mateo County joined a list of 32 other California communities to report a positive test for the West Nile Virus on Wednesday. The virus was discovered in an eastern grey squirrel that was collected on July 9 in San Mateo by the San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District.
A squirrel found in San Mateo County earlier this month tested positive for West Nile virus, a likely sign that infected mosquitoes with the potential to bite humans are among us again, the San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District said Wednesday.
The squirrel’s diagnosis marks the first detection of West Nile virus in the county this year. The virus has been detected in the county since 2004.
The first animal case of West Nile virus in San Mateo County this year has been found in a squirrel collected last week in the city of San Mateo, a San Mateo County Health Department spokeswoman said today.
An eastern gray tree squirrel was found July 9 by the San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District, and subsequent testing at the University of California, Davis concluded it tested positive for the virus, according to spokeswoman Beverly Thames.
Local mosquito experts confirmed a squirrel collected earlier this month in the city of San Mateo was positive for the West Nile virus which in itself isn’t dangerous for humans but implies the presence of infected mosquitoes.
That implication is leading health officials to urge people to take precautions against the potentially fatal virus, such as wearing mosquito repellent and removing standing water from property.
There’s no need to guess at the origin of the litter that flows into San Mateo Creek. It’s not hard to recognize.
Thursday morning, a handful of volunteers pulled 15 shopping carts, a bicycle, several car tires and at least 10 traffic cones from the mouth of San Mateo Creek at low tide, half a mile from open Bay waters.
Various associations have come together to control the spread of invasive Spartina, or cordgrass, which has contributed to this summer’s mosquito population.
The threat of West Nile Virus continues to be present here in San Mateo County. In an effort to alert the residents of the county of San Mateo about the still present threat from West Nile Virus, the San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District has asked each city council to help publicize West Nile Virus and Mosquito and Vector Control Awareness Week — April 24 through April 30 by adopting a resolution modeled after Senate Concurrent Resolution 126 (Keane).
