West Nile crisis declared

Mosquito control officials plan to spray pesticide from airplanes and trucks across Stockton, Lodi and Manteca on Saturday to kill West Nile virus-carrying insects, officials said.

The 130,000-acre operation, the first large-scale spraying in urban San Joaquin County this year, was announced within hours of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's declaration Thursday of a state of emergency in San Joaquin and two other counties hit by the virus.

Schwarzenegger said in his proclamation the virus has caused "conditions of extreme peril." It is believed to be the first time in California that a state of emergency has been declared over concerns about West Nile virus, officials said.

Four people in California, including an 86-year-old San Joaquin County man, have died of the illness this year; the virus has sickened dozens more, including one in San Joaquin County, said Aaron Devencenzi of the San Joaquin County Mosquito and Vector Control District.

So far in San Joaquin County this year, one squirrel, five chickens, 22 birds and 72 groups of trapped mosquitoes have tested positive for the virus, he said.
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