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Sacramento‑Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control warns of West Nile season, outlines new sterile‑male trial
Summary
The Sacramento‑Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District told the Yolo County Board it is monitoring West Nile virus activity, encouraging residents to remove standing water and announcing a July trial of sterile‑insect technique in Natomas to curb invasive Aedes aegypti.
The Sacramento‑Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District delivered its annual update to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors on June 3, warning residents that mosquito season has begun and detailing surveillance, control and new pilot technology to target invasive species.
"The mosquito season is here. We've got warm weather," District Manager Gary Goodman told the board, laying out the district's integrated mosquito management program: public education, daily surveillance traps across the 2,000‑square‑mile district, larval controls and biological controls including a mosquito‑fish breeding facility. Goodman said rice acreage in the district—about 45,000 acres—remains an important seasonal source of mosquito production in Yolo County.
Goodman reviewed the district's 2024 results and emerging threats. The district recorded 65 positive mosquito pools in Yolo County last year and found West Nile virus activity concentrated around population centers including Davis and Woodland. He noted that in California last year there were 129 reported human cases (mostly neuroinvasive illness), and cited Centers for Disease Control estimates that each reported neuroinvasive case corresponds to dozens of unreported infections. He urged residents to empty standing water weekly and use repellent; the district delivers free repellent for events on request and offers notifications by ZIP code on its website.
To address an invasive species, Aedes aegypti—capable of transmitting dengue, Zika and chikungunya—the district plans a sterile‑insect technique (SIT) trial this July in a roughly 100‑acre area of Natomas. The trial will release sterile male mosquitoes; males do not bite, and matings with local females reduce viable offspring. Goodman said the district and about a dozen other California districts are running small trials to evaluate effectiveness.
Funding for the district comes from local property taxes, Goodman told Supervisor Ferrichs when asked. He also described the district's role in producing and distributing about 3,500 pounds of mosquito fish per year from its Elk Grove facility, and an equipment‑based ecological management program that works with large landowners and refuges to reduce breeding habitat.
Supervisors thanked the district for responsiveness to constituent complaints about spraying and for community outreach to fairs and school events. The board received the report by motion; supervisors moved to "receive the report" and the motion carried on a voice vote.
