From Pasadena Now
April 4, 2022
Extreme drought conditions have been prevalent across the San Gabriel Valley for years and now new research suggests that as the drought intensifies, the percentage of infected West Nile mosquitoes goes up.
A steady rise in infected mosquitoes in the Pasadena area has been documented since 2019.
Data provided by San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District (SGVMVCD) revealed that a total of 17 mosquito samples from San Gabriel Valley tested positive for WNV in 2019, 53 samples tested positive in 2020 while 190 samples tested positive in 2021.
This counterintuitive relationship between less water and more West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes was described in 2017 by scientists who studied the relationship between climate change and the virus.
One of them, Sara Paull, a disease ecologist at the National Ecological Observatory Network in Boulder, Colorado, told Kaiser Health News the connection may have to do with birds.