Sacramento County is reporting an abnormally early and strong start to West Nile Virus cases, with numbers that are second highest in the state.

According to the California Department of Public Health West Nile Virus website, Sacramento County has 47 cases in which the virus was found in dead birds and 16 cases where it was found in mosquito samples.

In comparison, at this time last year, there was one case, total.

“We have one of the largest surveillance programs in the state, so obviously the more mosquitos you trap, the more that you collect, the more you test, and the more activity you are going to find,” said Luz Maria Robles, with Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control. “We have about 23 species of mosquitos within our two counties, and out of 23 only two are capable of transmitting West Nile Virus.”

Robles said the increased rain, combined with heat, is the perfect breeding ground for the virus-carrying mosquitos.

“Heat accelerates a mosquito’s life cycle so that means they more quickly go from an egg to an adult mosquito,” Robles said. “So this year it’s like we got a little bit of a head start, or we started the season off with a bang, because we did have rain followed by that warm weather.”

The hardest hit areas of West Nile Virus are north of the American River from Arden-Arcade through Carmichael. Robles credits residents as being an important tool by reporting dead birds.

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