California residents are being warned of a mosquito that is on the lose which can carry dengue and yellow fever.
"It could change the way we live in California, if we don't stop it," said Tim Phillips of the Fresno Mosquito and Vector Control District, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Imagine not feeling safe to sit out in your backyard in the afternoons."
Agencies monitoring traps said they have found yellow fever mosquitoes in the Central Valley and in the Bay Area. However, no one appears to have been bitten and infected with either dengue or yellow fever in California.
A person with yellow fever will suffer from side effects such as chills, nausea, headache and a prominent backache. Dengue fever comes with head and muscle aches and a rash similar to measles. Both viruses can be deadly.
The yellow fever mosquito, a white polka-dotted bug that bites during the day and can lay its eggs in less than a teaspoon of water, was first detected in June in Madera, according to the report. It turned up in August in the Bay Area's San Mateo County, and this week in Fresno. Officials are spraying insecticide around infected homes.
The California Department of Public Health reported 200 cases of dengue fever since 2010, all contracted out of the country.
Experts say the reason why these mosquitoes are targeting California is because they die in cold weather. This explains why Africa is hit with over 90 percent of infections - it is also the original home of the yellow fever mosquito. These Yellow Fever mosquitoes first came to the US on slave ships in the 1500's.
