Uptick in mosquitoes – and discovery of new species – has local experts on the lookout

SUMMERLAND, Calif. - Local experts specializing in bees, rats and mosquitoes have a message for the public: start scouring your yards and property for standing water. Mosquitoes are the big concern.

'Time to dump, drain and empty!' The message plays high on the local vector management website.

"Watch out for kiddie pools, bird baths," said Jessie Sprigg, Office Manager at Mosquito and Vector Management District of Santa Barbara County. "It doesn't take much. A mosquito will take any opportunity to find water and have their babies. Just be on the lookout and be aware."

Add garden pots and dog bowls to the list.

Sprigg and her colleagues at the Summerland office anticipate pesky mosquitoes will be a problem this year because of last winter's epic rains.

Mosquitoes live and breed in water and are capable of transmitting diseases such as Malaria, Zika virus and, West Nile virus -- the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the United States.

Sprigg said vector control experts in California have already discovered new, invasive species of mosquito known as Aedes aegypti (the yellow fever mosquito) and Aedes albopictus (the Asian tiger mosquito).

"They are in Los Angeles and Bakersfield. We're looking out for them."

Sprigg said these new species are difficult to identify, especially for most lay people.

"You'd have to bring it in to us, we're not able to identify them through pictures. We need the physical sample."

Large tubs on the district's property in Summerland are filled with mosquito-eating fish, which are free to residents living between the western edge of Goleta, down to the Ventura County line.

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