Health Hazard Warnings Issued in NSW and South Australia as Mosquito Population Skyrockets

This close-up photograph shows a mosquito in Montlouis-sur-Loire, central France, on October 21, 2022. Guillaume Souvant/AFP via Getty Images

Health authorities in New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia have warned their residents to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes as flooding and summer weather conditions have caused dangerous mosquito-borne viruses to emerge in the two states.

On Jan. 11, NSW Health announced that the potentially fatal Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) virus was detected in a mosquito in Menindee, a small town in the far west of the state.