Invasive Aedes mosquito expands reach in Los Angeles, Orange Counties

From the LA Times
October 11, 2021

County vector control personnel informed Graham Jenkins and his wife late last month that the itchy bites on their ankles were the work of an insidious mosquito that had invaded their Gardena home — and that there was nothing they could do.

“These little buggers are living with us forever now,” Jenkins said.

A pair of bites on the 34-year-old’s wrist recently got infected and sent him to the emergency room. After a week of antibiotics, he said he was “almost back to normal,” but still wearing his watch on the other wrist.

The invasive Aedes mosquito is an aggressive biter with the ability to pierce clothing and reproduce in water sources as small as a bottle cap. Flying low to the ground, they strike during the daytime, preferring human blood to that of birds or other animals. They often strike multiple times in rapid succession.

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