Several people caught dengue fever locally in Los Angeles this fall. Climate change and invasive mosquitoes have made that possible, experts say.
mosquitoes have spread into Southern California in the past decade, likely introduced from the U.S. Southeast, where technicians photographed these mosquitoes trapped on a sticky pad. Unlike California's native mosquitoes,are capable of spreading dengue fever— a disease common in the tropics, but still rare in most of the United States. Last year was the first time the disease spread locally in Southern California.
Until last year, Southern California had only seen cases of dengue fever in travelers who were infected while abroad. It had not historically spreadthe region. But in 2023, for the first time ever, the disease popped up in patients who had not recently traveled.“It really was a reality check that this can happen in our area,” says Aiman Halai, director of the Vector Borne Disease Unit at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
But the new mosquitoes have gained a foothold in the region since the early 2010s. They were likely introduced from the Southeastern United States, where they are also invasive but have “We're doing this domestication of the mosquitoes,” Ryan says —providing them with friendly habitat and plenty of food so they can thrive.mosquitoes will"bite to get its meal and then just leave,” he says, sating themselves with a single blood meal from a single person. ButThey flit from person to person, snacking. Lara says it almost seems like “they just bite for fun.
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