“Flydra,” a new multi-camera, real-time, three-dimensional method of recording multiple flying animals, shows the minutest details of airborne insects. Click link at right to get the whole story. This movie shows various 2-D cameras tracking…
Posts Tagged ‘SC mosquito Control’
Asian Tiger Mosquito Facts
Friday, August 26th, 2011The Asian Tiger Mosquito (also called Aedes albopictus) was brought to the United States during the 1980′s in used truck tires shipped from Japan. When the tires were moved from state to state, the Asian Tiger Mosquito spread. Now it is found in much of the eastern United States, including North Carolina.
Biology of the Asian
The life of a Tiger Mosquito has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larva and pupa are always found in water. Like other mosquitoes, the female Asian Tiger Mosquito needs blood to produce eggs. The Tiger Mosquito eill bite many tiypes of animals, including people. It likes to bite in the daytime, mostly in early morning or late afternoon. The bite is no worse than that of other mosquitoes, but large numbers of Tiger Mosquitoes can be a problem around home or work.
The Asian Tiger Mosquito lays its eggs inside containers that will hold water. These can be man-made containers such as tires, tin cans, buckets, bird baths, and clogged gutters, or they can be natural containers such as holes in trees or rocks. The Tiger Mosquito can be a problem around homes or in the woods because of many places it can breed. Eggs are not harmed by dry or cold weather. When flooded with water during summer, the eggs hatch. Even in a small container there can be hundreds of larvae. During warm weather, it may take only a week for the Tiger mosquito to grow from egg to adult. The adult Tiger Mosquito does not fly far, so it is most likely to be found close to its breeding place. In Southeastern North Carolina Asian Tiger Mosquitoes can be found around the house from May through October. The peak months for this mosquito are July and August.
Are spray trucks useful against the Tiger Mosquito? Mosquito spray trucks or Ultra Low Volume (ULV) cold foggers are designed to work in the evenings when temperatures are cooler. The Asian Tiger Mosquito prefers to fly during daylight hours. Ultimately the best control strategy to battle the Tiger Mosquito is to “Tip and Toss” all the containers holding water around the house. Removing the Larva can dramatically reduce the adult Asian Tiger Mosquito population around the house.
What does the Asian Tiger Mosquito look like?
The adult Tiger Mosquito is only about 1/8 inch long. It is black with white stripes on its legs and body. There is a single white stripe down the center of its head and back. These stripes give it the name “Tiger” Mosquito.
Problems caused by the Asian Tiger Mosquito. Overseas, the Asian Tiger Mosquito spreads disease, and it may spread diseases such as West Nile Virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis in the U.S.
Personal Protection
Apply DEET-containing insect repellants according to the label directions.
Avoid the outdoors when mosquitoes are most active, from dusk to dawn.
Wear light-colored garments that cover your arms and legs, especially when you have to be outside between dusk and dawn.
Other Interesting Facts
One Tiger Mosquito can bite up to ten times trying to complete its hunt for a blood meal.
There are 45 (forty-five) different types of mosquitoes in Pender County.
Rooting house plants inside can produce Asian Tiger Mosquito larval habitat inside your house.
One female mosquito can lay up to 500 eggs in its lifetime.
The average life expenctancy of an adult mosquito is about 3 weeks.
Some mosquitoes can have as many as 12 generations per year.
With a Little Genetic Reprogramming, Blood-Sucking Can Be Deadly for Mosquitoes
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011With a Little Genetic Reprogramming, Blood-Sucking Can Be Deadly for Mosquitoes
What’s the News: Biochemists at the University of Arizona have found a promising new way to fight disease-carrying mosquitoes. In their research project, published in the journal PNAS, the scientists blocked mosquitoes’ ability to digest blood, making blood-sucking deadly to the winged pests. This technique could someday be used alongside other strategies to battle mosquitoes, like repellents and traps.
How the Heck:
- Mosquitoes, like many other insects, draw most of their nutrients from nectar. But when it comes time to produce eggs, female mosquitoes require large amounts of protein, which they get from blood. So, Roger Miesfeld and his research team decided to see what would happen if they blocked a mosquito’s ability to digest blood.
- The researchers focused on a protein complex called coatomer protein 1, or COPI, which is made up of several subunits that cells use to secrete gut enzymes that break down blood proteins. When a mosquito draws blood, cells lining its gut package enzymes in small droplets called vesicles, and release the packages into the gut.
- Using a technique called RNAi, the researchers shutdown individual COPI subunits in about 5,000 mosquitoes. Surprisingly, more than 90 percent of the yellow fever mosquitoes died within 48 hours of blood feeding. “When she does [feed], all hell starts breaking loose, biochemically and anatomically speaking,” Miesfeld said in a prepared statement.
- The researchers think that the removal of a COPI subunit makes the whole secretion process defective—It causes the cells lining a mosquito’s gut to fall apart, allowing blood to seep into its body.
What’s the Context:
- There are many techniques scientists have used to kill mosquitoes. Recently, a study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene showed that a cheap deworming pill used against river blindness is temporarily effective for battling the spread of malaria, too. Mosquitoes that bite people who have taken the drug ultimately die.
- Researchers are also looking at ways to prevent mosquitoes from biting people. Earlier this year, scientists found a possible new mosquito repellent: a molecule that overloads a mosquito’s sense of smell.
- Other scientists want to use mosquitoes’ sense of smell to draw them into traps. The lure? Smelly socks.
The Future Holds: Miesfeld says that the research could be used in conjunction with other mosquito-fighting techniques, if they can develop a small molecule that works in place of the injected RNAi. Scientists could douse mosquito nets with the molecule to create an effective mosquito-specific insecticide, or place it in a pill for people to swallow (as with the deworming pill above). Though, Miesfeld notes that genetic changes would eventually make mosquitoes immune to the molecule.
Why some people are mosquito magnets
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011Why some people are mosquito magnets
By Cari Nierenberg
Some folks seem to be magnets for mosquitoes, while others rarely get bitten. What makes the little buggers single you out and not the guy or gal you’re standing next to at the Memorial Day backyard barbecue?
The two most important reasons a mosquito is attracted to you have to do with sight and smell, says Jonathan Day, a professor of medical entomology at the University of Florida in Vero Beach. Lab studies suggest that 20 percent of people are high attractor types, he says.
Mosquitoes are highly visual, especially later in the afternoon, and their first mode of search for humans is through vision, explains Day. People dressed in dark colors — black, navy blue, red — stand out and movement is another cue.
Once the mosquito keys in on a promising visual target, she (and it’s always “she” — only the ladies bite) then picks up on smell. The main attractor is your rate of carbon dioxide production with every exhale you take.
Those with higher metabolic rates produce more carbon dioxide, as do larger people and pregnant women. Although carbon dioxide is the primary attractant, other secondary smells coming from your skin or breath mark you as a good landing spot.
Lactic acid (given off while exercising), acetone (a chemical released in your breath), and estradiol (a breakdown product of estrogen) can all be released at varying concentrations and lure in mosquitoes, says Day. Your body temperature, or warmth, can also make a difference. Mosquitoes may flock to pregnant women because of their extra body heat.
But with more than 350 compounds isolated from odors produced by human skin, researchers have barely scratched the surface behind a mosquito’s preference for certain people, says Joseph Conlon, a medical entomologist and the technical advisor to the American Mosquito Control Association.
Although it may all boil down to human odor and genetics — studies of twins have revealed they tend to be attractive or repellant to mosquitoes in the same measure — it’s more complicated than that, suggests Conlon.
He says the latest thinking is that it might not be about what makes people more attractive to mosquitoes, but what makes them not as repellant. It could be that individuals who get less bites produce chemicals on their skin that make them more repellant and cover up smells that mosquitoes find attractive.
Mosquitoes don’t bite you for food, since they feed off plant nectar, Conlon explains. Females suck your blood to get a protein needed to develop their eggs, which can then send more pesky insects into the world to annoy you.
But keep this in mind when you’re outdoors this summer: Mosquitoes are more attracted to people after they drink a 12-ounce beer. It could be that people breathe a little harder after a cold one or their skin is a little warmer, suggests Conlon. But that won’t stop him from having a brewski, even though he considers himself a mosquito magnet.
Here are more fun facts about mosquitoes and bites provided by our experts:
- Eating bananas will not attract mosquitoes and taking vitamin B-12 will not repel them; these are old wives’ tales.
- Some mosquito species are leg and ankle biters; they cue into the stinky smell of bacteria on your feet.
- Other species prefer the head, neck and arms perhaps because of the warmth, smells emitted by your skin, and closeness to carbon dioxide released by your mouth.
- The size of a mosquito bite welt has nothing to do with the amount of blood taken and everything to do with how your immune system responds to the saliva introduced by the mosquito into your skin.
- The more times you get bitten by a particular species of mosquito, the less most people react to that species over time. The bad news? There’s more than 3,000 species worldwide.
Beautiful, Scary-Looking Close-Up of a Mosquito
Thursday, April 28th, 2011Remember the movie, The Fly? This one could model the lead for, The Mosquito.
Mosquito season here, be careful
Monday, April 11th, 2011|
|
Was this winter cold enough for you? I can’t ever remember a winter when I had to dress so warmly for such long periods of time. And if we found it cold, hopefully some of our native insects did as well. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of the mosquitoes didn’t make it to spring? That certainly would lessen some of our health concerns and let us enjoy the benefits of living in coastal Georgia. Mosquitoes can spread West Nile and other viruses by feeding on the blood of infected birds. West Nile virus is the most commonly seen virus in Georgia. It’s not spread from person to person. The virus is a closely related to other mosquito-borne viruses that circulate in Georgia every year, such as St. Louis encephalitis and eastern equine encephalitis viruses. Before August 1999, WNV had never been reported in the Western Hemisphere. West Nile virus first was isolated from a febrile adult woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937. In recent years, West Nile virus has emerged in temperate regions of Europe and North America, presenting a threat to public, equine and animal health.
The most serious manifestation of a WNV infection is fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in humans, horses and certain domestic and wild birds. Fewer than 1 percent of those infected with West Nile will develop severe illness, and it is possible for many humans to contract the disease and manifest no symptoms. The threat for humans is mainly for the elderly and people with other health problems that make them more susceptible to secondary illnesses. Symptoms of West Nile Virus usually occur three to 15 days after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. Most people who are infected with WNV will have no symptoms or may have a mild, flu-like illness with fever, headache and body aches before they recover. In some individuals, particularly the elderly, the virus can cause a serious disease called encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). Symptoms of encephalitis may include high fever, severe headache, nausea, stiff neck, confusion, muscle weakness, paralysis, disorientation, convulsions, coma and, rarely, death.
There is no specific treatment, cure or vaccine for West Nile virus in humans. But the symptoms and complications of the disease can be treated, and most people who get the disease recover from it. A vaccine to help protect horses against the virus is available and owners of horses are encouraged to have their animals inoculated. Many birds infected with West Nile virus die, so public-health officials look at dead bird reports as a warning sign for the virus. People who find dead birds in their yards should report them to their county environmental health department. The reports will be used to map bird deaths throughout Georgia. Some of the birds also will be collected by health authorities and tested for West Nile virus. Unfortunately, it is not possible to test all reported birds.
Because mosquitoes transmit West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, the Georgia Department of Human Resources and the Coastal Health District advise residents to take the following precautions against mosquitoes:
• Minimize outdoor activities between dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.
• When outdoors, wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, shoes and socks.
• On exposed skin, use mosquito repellent that contains less than 30 percent DEET for adults and less than 10 percent DEET on children older than 1 (do not use DEET on infants).
• Because mosquitoes require stagnant water to breed, eliminate standing water around your home by disposing of old cans, barrels, tires or other objects that can collect surface water. Store wheelbarrows and boats upside down (or cover them), and empty pets’ water dishes, birdbaths, pools and ornamental ponds at least once a week.
• Clean gutters, flat roofs and air conditioner drains frequently.
• Keep mosquitoes from entering buildings by repairing screens on windows, doors, patios and porches.
• Keep grass and weeds mowed to reduce mosquitoes’ resting places.
For more information about mosquito control around your home or to report a dead bird, call the Liberty County Environmental Health Department at 368-5520. For more information about West Nile virus and other mosquito-transmitted diseases, go to www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/prevention_info.
Mosquito Control Program
Friday, April 8th, 2011
Georgia Mosquito Control Program
Monday, March 14th, 2011MOSQUITOES
One of the best known summer pests, mosquitoes breed in stagnant water or soft soil and can develop from egg to adult in 10 to 14 days.
Habits
Female mosquitoes suck our blood. Male mosquitoes feed on plant nectars. They can develop from egg to adult in 10 to 14 days. They are most active from dusk to dawn and will fly up to 14 miles for a blood meal.
Habitat
Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water sources such as storm drains, old tires, children’s wading pools and birdbaths.
Threats
Mosquitoes are well-known to spread diseases such as West Nile Virus, malaria and dengue fever.
Prevention:
Eliminate or reduce mosquito breeding sites by replacing all standing water at least once a week. This includes bird baths, ponds and unfiltered pools. Remove unneeded vegetation or trash from around any standing water sources that cannot be changed, dumped or removed. Introduce mosquito-eating fish such as gambusia, green sunfish, bluegills and minnows to standing water. Screen windows, doors and other openings with mesh. Avoid going outdoors when and where mosquitoes are most active: during dusk or dawn. Use insect repellent containing DEET on exposed skin whenever or wherever mosquitoes are likely to bite.
Early West Nile case raises concern
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010The appearance of a West Nile case two months before the peak season has worried public health officials.
Jim Gathany, CDC While Georgia is home to 63 species of mosquitoes, the Southern House Mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus) is the main type that spreads West Nile Virus in this part of the country
But health experts acknowledge that getting people alarmed over West Nile virus has become a tougher task.
The number of confirmed cases has dropped significantly in the state and nationally. Metro Atlanta counties, looking to cut costs in a tight economy, have slashed funding for tracking and prevention.
“It’s become hard to beat the drum,” said Elmer Gray, a entomologist with the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Georgia.
The confirmed case of a 54-year-old Clayton County man in early May has raised concerns that this could be an irksome season for the virus, which most often causes none to minor symptoms but can cause severe illness and even death.
“It is on us now,” said Hayla Hall, spokeswoman for District 4 Public Health, a 12-county area south of Atlanta that includes Henry, Fayette and Coweta counties. “It could be a rough summer.”
The heavy winter rains and warming spring temperatures could form the perfect breeding environment — namely standing water - for mosquitoes that carry the virus, she said. Officials advise people to tip their bird baths, empty standing water and perform other mosquito deterrents.
State workers have already begun education programs and monitoring catch basins and other breeding sites.
“The mosquito will be out and biting earlier than normal,” said Ravae Graham, spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Health.
Cobb County is especially concerned that properties abandoned during the September floods could harbor breeding areas for mosquitoes, county health officials said. The county has begun treating areas around nursing homes and assisted living communities to reduce mosquito populations around people at a higher risk of severe illness from the virus.
Some health officials say it’s still unclear whether metro Atlanta will see a spate of West Nile this summer. The season for the illness is generally July to September.
Gray, the UGA expert, noted that some heavy rains can wash away and destroy the breeding areas.
In 2007, Georgia had 52 cases and one death. Last year, the state saw four cases and two deaths. Fulton County had no cases last year, officials said.
“A lot of people are getting tired of the message,” said Fulton County environmental health supervisor Barney Harmon.
About one in 150 people infected with the disease will develop severe symptoms that can include high fever, convulsions, coma and paralysis. People age 50 and older and those with compromised immune systems may be more prone to serious reactions.
Gray said the decrease in government control of West Nile places the onus on individuals to take precautions, such as wearing insect repellent and checking for standing water outside their home. Other recommendations include ensuring screens are secure on windows, and wearing long sleeves, socks and pants when outdoors.
The decrease in cases may be reassuring, he said.
“But if you’re the unlucky one, it’s very serious,” he said.
Georgia Mosquito Control
http://www.ajc.com/health/early-west-nile-case-530961.html
