EL NINO BRINGING EARLY MOSQUITO SEASON TO AREA.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

Now playing at puddles, ponds and pools everywhere: ``Attack of the Two-Winged Bloodsuckers.''

Yep, the mosquitoes have come out early this year, thanks in large part to all the ground-soaking and warmish weather caused by El Nino.

Traps set by Los Angeles County mosquito-busters have caught a higher than usual number of the pesky, water-loving critters, suggesting the possibility of a bad insect season as the warming trend continues over the next few months.

``Our mosquito count is higher than usual this time of year,'' said Mike Shaw, operations director of the Greater Los Angeles Vector Control District, which oversees mosquito abatement in the San Fernando Valley.

``The mosquitoes are earlier than usual,'' Shaw said. ``Usually we start seeing them around the end of April.''

Shaw said traps set up across Los Angeles County are netting on average about 1-1/2 mosquitoes a night, up from the usual average this time of year of less than one of the skin-piercing insects.

The good news is, none has been found to be carrying the St. Louis encephalitis virus that causes flu-like symptoms and, if untreated, can be fatal.

``The mosquitoes out there are a little annoying,'' Shaw said. ``That's about it. We are not worried.''

But Shaw said county inspectors have found tarsalis culex, the type of mosquito that carries the virus, leading bug fighters to mount an all-out counteroffensive against these insects and their larvae.

County bug exterminators are spraying light-grade, environmentally friendly oil on wet areas across the county to suffocate mosquito larvae. They're stocking ponds, lakes and rivers with mosquito fish to gobble up larvae.

And mosquito abaters are urging residents to empty any containers that have collected rainwater outside their homes and to make sure their ponds are treated and that there pools are well-chlorinated.

``People need to help us do the proactive work to keep mosquitoes down,'' said Frank Hall, a county Department of Health Services official who helps oversee the mosquito abatement program.

County crews will help people mosquito-proof their ponds and pools free of charge, Hall and Shaw said.

San Fernando Valley resident Edie Owen just recently super-chlorinated her pool after noticing squadrons of the tiny airborne vampires outside her home.

``That seems to have taken care of them,'' said Owen, a secretary at Queen Termite and Pest Control Co. ``Around this time of year, when there is a lot of moisture in the air, they'll incubate. They'll be flying around everywhere.''

Some of the mosquitoes' favorite hangouts in the area include Sepulveda Basin, Hansen Dam, the Los Angeles River and the Chatsworth Reservoir, Shaw said.

In Singapore, El Nino has been blamed for bringing out mosquitoes that carry the potentially fatal dengue fever that killed one person in the Southeast Asian country last year. Since January, 1,300 cases of the fever have been recorded.

The only concern in Los Angeles arising from mosquitoes is St. Louis encephalitis, Hall said. Between 1983 and 1986, there were 22 cases in Southern California with one resulting in death, Hall said.

But since then, Hall said, only three cases and no fatalities have been recorded in the region. The very young and the very old would be most susceptible to the virus if they were bitten by an infected mosquito, but the virus can be treated with medication, he said.

The symptoms begin with headaches, fever and sensitivity to light, and can grow to a confused mental state and eventually a coma, Hall said.

``The best thing to do if you are worried is to talk to a physician,'' he said.

As part of their early warning strategy, Hall said county officials plan to rely again on ``sentinel'' chickens - caged birds placed in key areas across the county waiting to be bitten by mosquitoes.

Blood samples will be taken periodically from the poultry to determine whether they were pricked by a bug carrying encephalitis, which would send abatement teams to a particular area and trigger a warning to residents.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Rande Gallant, left, and Wesley Collins of the county Vector Control District use a net to catch, and recruit, mosquito-eating fish in a pond at the Porter Ranch Country Club.

(2) Pest control officials collect mosquito fish to eat the insects' larvae, which grow to bloodsucking adulthood in standing bodies of water.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News