“Yellow fever” mosquitoes discovered in San Diego

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – With all the furor over Ebola, another threat might be easy to miss, and it is tiny and well hidden but it is dangerous. It is called the “yellow fever” mosquito.

Officially known as Aedes Aegypti, the mosquitoes have been discovered at Naval Base San Diego.

Now, vector control officials are hunting for more.

The yellow fever mosquitoes are about a quarter-of-an-inch long, and it is just as menacing.

It is new in San Diego and dangerous because of what it carries, and even a short list of those diseases can be unnerving.

The mosquito carries Yellow Fever, which ravaged Europe and then the United States around the turn of the 20th Century, killing thousands.

San Diego County’s master bug zapper, known as supervising vector ecologist, Chris Conlan found the mosquito by accident.

He is now on the hunt for more.

County officials are urging all to join the hunt.

If you are bitten by a mosquito during the day, indoors, report it immediately to San Diego Vector Control.

You can contact them at: (858) 694-2888 and/ or email at: vector@sdcounty.ca.gov