The mosquito control tool faces a hurdle: getting LA property owners to pay

Residents should have gotten a break from the ankle-killing mosquitoes that fueled the recent outbreak of dengue fever in Los Angeles County.

In general, mosquitoes though – by Aedes of Egypt – actually disappear in the winter until the beginning of May in the region.

Instead, complaints to local agencies tasked with pest control have increased recently.

“We haven’t seen them go as far as they have in years past,” said Susanne Kluh, general manager of the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District.

Their unusual presence adds to the urgency of the ongoing work on the 40-foot spaceship docked in Pacoima. It is about to turn into a bustling nursery for tens of thousands of mosquitoes.

This May, the region is set for the third consecutive year to release sterilized male mosquitoes – which do not bite – in parts of Sunland-Tujunga.

The last two years have been promising, and the number of women in the two mobile areas has dropped by an average of more than 80%.

However, business owners have signaled that they are not willing to pay to expand.

That puts uncertainty in officials’ goal of eventually bringing the route to their entire service area, which includes 36 cities and unincorporated communities.

Steve Vetrone, assistant general manager for the Greater LA region.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“Unfortunately, that’s going to be a very expensive project,” said Steve Vetrone, the district’s assistant general manager. “I can tell you right now that’s not something we can do with our current operating budget.”

The demand, the question and the disappointing answer

Aedes of Egypt they are new local items. Native to Africa, black-and-white-striped mosquitoes were first detected in California in 2013 and arrived in LA County the following year.

“Despite our best efforts, they were able to outrun us, and now they’re in every city and community in our state,” as well as all of Southern California, Vetrone said. In fact, low-flying, daytime-biting mosquitoes are present in about half of California’s counties, including Shasta in the far north.

Desperate to find a solution, many are trying the so-called sterile insect process — including the vector control districts that serve Orange and San Bernardino counties, as well as the San Gabriel Valley — and “we’re hoping this will be our silver bullet,” Kluh said.

The idea is simple: release sterile males to outnumber the wild – say, 10 to 1 or even 100 to 1. The goal is for the modified males to mate with the females, producing eggs that do not hatch.

The Kluh district uses X-rays to sterilize the males but there are other methods, such as using genetically modified or infected insects.

Female mosquitoes are given different types of blood – pig and cow – to see what leads to more eggs.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The process, while promising, requires time and money.

In California, property owners pay a fee to control local mosquitoes (and other pests), some paying an annual fee called a benefit assessment.

Calling the new currency requires permission from households, apartment owners and businesses, according to Proposition 218.

In order to release sterile male mosquitoes in a wider area of ​​Greater LA County, officials are seeking up to $20 per year for a single-family home. That would be more than the $18.97 that homeowners now pay for agency services.

Last April, the county sent 50,000 sample ballots to property owners, asking if they would support the increase.

Only 47% of the returns were positive.

“The data showed that single-family homeowners were the most supportive, but minority business owners with large parcels and very high costs saw no benefit from the additional fees,” Kluh said in an email.

Business owners may not live in the area, but their vote – if their property covers a few hectares – carries a lot of weight.

Times readers, commenting on last year’s story about the proposal, responded positively.

“I hate mosquitoes because they love me so much,” said one student. I would happily spend $20 to reduce the population! [than] that’s repellent.”

Officials are not giving up, and plan to send out another round of voting samples next year.

Kluh already has business talking points in his back pocket: Restaurant owners should be interested in making outdoor dining more enjoyable, while landlords can lose income if their tenants get sick from an outbreak of Zika, chikungunya or yellow fever — all communicable diseases. Aedes of Egypthe said.

Making mosquitoes unable to reproduce

On a recent tour of Pacoima insects, Nicolas Tremblay, the region’s top vector ecologist, pulled out a small container full of what looked like vitamins.

But the clear pill bags were filled with about 6,500 mosquito eggs and cow liver powder.

Nicolas Tremblay, a senior vector ecologist, displays trays of tablets filled with mosquito eggs that are placed in water.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The tablets are placed in trays of water, where the eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the powder. It takes about nine days to go from an egg to a buzzing adult.

The men were then driven to Garden Grove, where they underwent X-rays. Then they are sent back and released the next day.

“It’s really crazy in August, September, that’s when we’ll reach our peak production” of up to 72,000 mosquitoes a week, he said. “All these [trays] it would have been full of water and mosquitoes.”

In 2024, the region launched its pilot, releasing nearly 600,000 male sterilizers in the two Sunland-Tujunga areas over a five-month period.

Number of people Aedes of Egypt women decreased by an average of 82% compared to the control area.

The statistics became clear that year, when California reported 18 locally diagnosed cases of dengue — a sharp increase from the first confirmed cases the previous year.

Last year, the pilot saw similar success, although there was a natural decline in activity across the region.

On a recent visit to the insect facility, several hundred mosquitoes flew around cages with white mesh, acting as participants in a study to see which blood they preferred – pig or cow.

“We haven’t finished the cases yet, but it seems like they didn’t care,” he said.

One thing scientists already know: Aedes of Egypt to love people.

A very flexible enemy

Invasive mosquitoes can lay their eggs in small amounts of water. A bottle cap or a crease in a potato chip bag is fair game.

In addition, mosquitoes in the Greater LA region are resistant to many insecticides.

Now, there may be a new concern. Generally, invasive mosquitoes go into hibernation year after year.

Kluh said it looks like they may have evolved in a way that allows them to stay busy during the winter.

The hot weather already extended their season and allowed them to migrate to areas that were windless.

Releasing sterilized males does not involve pesticides, and improves the biology of the insect: Lustful males are good at finding females.

Many citizens are happy with this promising tool, but others are intrigued by the idea of ​​exploiting the environment.

“There are people who love each other and then there are people who are completely against each other because it’s like, ‘You’re playing God,'” Vetrone said.