Mild winters may shift spread of mosquito-borne illness

Species that transmits brain virus in the Southeast may turn to mammals earlier in warmer years

Mild winters appear to speed annual menu changes for disease-carrying mosquitoes. And the revised biting patterns might play an overlooked role in worsening the risk of brain infections in people and horses.

Blushing red as she fills up on blood, a female Culex erraticus mosquito taps a mammal.