Each autumn, California has long marked the retreat of mosquito season as a quiet return to safety — but that rhythm is breaking down. This year, warmer temperatures have pushed mosquitoes to emerge earlier, linger longer, and bite more frequently, creating conditions in which West Nile virus has claimed at least one life in Yolo County and hospitalized residents across Stanislaus and Butte counties. What was once a seasonal inconvenience is becoming a sustained public health reckoning, one that asks communities to reconsider their relationship with a landscape that is quietly, persistently ch
Southern California faces surge in mosquitoes as West Nile virus spreads
At least one death from West Nile virus in Yolo County and multiple hospitalizations across California counties.