Latest news with #mosquitoControl
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New invasive mosquito pilot program launching in July
( — The Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District is launching a new invasive mosquito control program next month in South Natomas. The sterile male mosquito pilot program aims to combat the spread of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, reduce mosquito populations, and protect residents' health. The program starts in July and runs through October. Investigation underway after dead body found wrapped in blanket in Sacramento 'Invasive mosquitoes have been spreading rapidly within our area,' said Luz Maria Robles, Public Information Officer for the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District. 'Over the last few years, we've definitely been picking more and more of them up in our traps. So we've been finding more adults as well as more immature mosquitoes in those small sources where they breed.' The spread of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which was initially brought to California in a shipment of bamboo plants, is surging in Northern California. Allowing them to breed, stagnant pools of water. Flower pots, bird baths, and outdoor dog bowls, for example, can become breeding grounds for these pests. How does ICE know who to deport? 'A container as small as a bottle cap of water would be enough to breed these mosquitoes,' said Robles. As populations of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes grow, so does the chance of contracting dangerous and even deadly diseases. Deputies seize nearly 7,000 marijuana plants in Northern California drug bust 'They pose a health threat for dengue, zika, and chikungunya,' Robles said. 'Now that we have these mosquitoes very well established in our area, we could see locally acquired cases of dengue.' That's why the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District is launching this program. Robles said mosquito control staff will release sterile male mosquitoes twice a week in South Natomas once the program begins. 'We'll be releasing sterile males that have a bacteria called Wolbachia,' she said. 'When they mate with the wild females in the area, then their eggs won't hatch. So it's a way of reducing mosquito populations over time.' These sterile male mosquitoes don't bite either, easing concerns for South Natomas residents already experiencing swarms of mosquitoes. 'You have to put up, like, you know, like shades, or you have to put up a curtain, you know what I mean? Like, so the mosquitoes don't get around or irritate you. It's a problem,' said area resident Jalen Garrison. 'Now I feel more safer with them combating, you know, what was just a nuisance like 3 or 4 years ago,' said Garrison. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Drones Deliver Millions Of Mosquitos to Prevent Bird Extinctions In Hawai‘i
Mosquito 'birth control' delivery efforts mark a major technological advance for conserving critically endangered Hawai'ian honeycreepers. 'Ākohekohe (Palmeria dolei), or crested honeycreeper, is endemic to the island of Maui in Hawaiʻi. ... More The ʻākohekohe is susceptible to mosquito‐transmitted avian malaria and only breeds in high‐elevation wet forests. It is critically endangered with fewer than 2,000 individuals alive today. (Via USFWS / public domain.) In a brilliant demonstration of multidisciplinary collaboration, a conservation program to save Hawai'i's critically endangered native bird species has taken another step forward. After a team of scientists developed sterile male mosquitoes, the next challenge was to safely deliver them to where they would be most effective in Hawai'i. Sterile male mosquitoes are created by infecting them with the bacteria, Wolbachia. This bacteria, which naturally occurs in many wild insect species, interferes with reproduction in mosquitoes by 'sterilizing' the males when introduced into mosquito populations like Aedes aegypti. When sterile male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes mate with invasive wild female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the resulting eggs cannot be fertilized and thus, cannot hatch, thereby reducing the mosquito population. Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted bacterium, where female Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti pass ... More the bacterium to their offspring, thus generating a stable line of Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes. Rearing this line of mosquitos in captivity allows humans to easily produce large numbers of incompatible male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes for release. (Credit: The National Environment Agency of Singapore / Public Domain) Male mosquitoes (regardless of whether they carry Wolbachia) do not bite or transmit disease, and feed only on plant juices and nectar for survival and energy. On the other hand, female mosquitoes do bite because they need a fresh blood meal to produce eggs. Additionally, because Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes are not genetically modified, and because Wolbachia bacteria naturally occur in 60% or more wild insects, these mosquitoes are safe. Where did these 'sterile' male mosquitoes originate? 'These males are descendants of mosquitoes originally collected from Hawai'i and it has taken multiple mosquito generations to breed up enough IIT mosquitoes to supply the project's needs,' said scientific outreach specialist Emma Shelly, who works as the Outreach Manager with Birds, Not Mosquitoes. This is a multi-agency partnership, spearheaded by the American Bird Conservancy, that is working to protect native Hawaiian honeycreepers from extinction caused by avian diseases, particularly avian malaria, transmitted by invasive mosquitoes. The effort uses the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) as a biological 'birth control' method to reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases by reducing local mosquito populations by more than 80% (ref). It has been used successfully in a wide range of places and situations around the world to control a variety of mosquito-borne diseases, ranging from dengue fever to malaria. Do free-roaming female mosquitoes prefer to mate with these IIT male mosquitoes? 'So all things being equal, matings would occur at random,' Ms Shelly told me in email. 'But all things aren't equal because the project is heavily skewing the odds in favor of the incompatible males by releasing them in such large numbers that the wild male mosquitoes are overwhelmed. In this scenario, wild females have significantly more opportunities to encounter IIT males and mate with them.' This technique is known as 'overflooding' and the 'overflooding ratio' (how many IIT males it takes to overwhelm wild males in a given area) is a key component of the project. In Hawai'i, that ratio is 10:1. Not only can drones deliver missiles to protect beleaguered civilians from Russian terrorists, but drones can also deliver pods full of IIT male mosquitoes to protect critically endangered Hawai'ian honeycreepers from avian malaria. But the drones used in these biological battles are not the same as those used against Russia, as you might have guessed. 'The drones we use are more common for activities requiring a moderate payload for a drone, like LiDAR, magnetometers, or cinema cameras. They are usually somewhat larger and fly much slower,' Adam Knox, drone pilot and Aerial Deployment of Mosquitoes Project Manager for American Bird Conservancy, told me in email. 'One of the drones we use, the Freefly AltaX is used for movies (can carry a RED Epic or similar) as well as aerial ignition deployment for controlled wildfire burns.' What makes these particular drones particularly well-designed to carry out their mosquito-delivery job? 'The drones needed to have adequate range and endurance to reach the 3000 acre site that extends over mountainous terrain carrying the payload system and then return home, so much of the testing has been focused on demonstrating this,' Mr Knox explained in email. Are these drones guided by autopilot or by humans? 'Both,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'A human pilot flies the aircraft manually during takeoffs and landings to precisely navigate around hazards in the forest, then once above the tree canopy, the aircraft is switched into an autopilot mode which allows it to carry out the preplanned mission as the pilot monitors the flight.' The male mosquitoes are delivered in biodegradable pods. Each drone carries up to 23 mosquito pods in one flight, and each pod contains about 1,000 insects. 'The pods are made of a sterilized biodegradable paper pulp and are not reusable,' Mr Knox explained in email. 'Once released from the air, they fall to the forest floor where they provide protection to the mosquitoes until they're ready to fly away. The pods then begin to break down once exposed to the elements.' A drone carrying a biodegradable mosquito pod, loaded and ready to deliver. (Credit: Adam Knox, ... More image appears here courtesy of the American Bird Conservancy.) This effort is the first known instance of specially-designed mosquito pods being dropped by drones. One of several pod design challenges that had to be met before the drone delivery service could be launched was the pods needed to maintain a controlled temperature. Unlike other insect species that have been released directly from drones in other parts of the world, these male mosquitoes are fragile and require containment in temperature-controlled pods. 'It's extremely exciting to have reached this project milestone,' Mr Knox remarked in email. 'The first drone deployments took place in April 2025. It took a lot of hard work and reliance on strong partnerships to reach the point where we could successfully demonstrate the utility and potential of drone aircraft as a tool for this important work, especially in one of the more challenging environments in the world.' The mosquito deliveries occur over thousands of acres of remote, mountainous terrain that have significant elevational changes, strong winds, and frequent rain. The drones and their release systems had to be tested in these demanding conditions to validate their ability to carry out the basic components of the mission. Can you imagine dropping mosquitoes in this landscape without falling to your death? Aerial view of ... More the rugged terrain, steep walls and waterfalls at Koolau Forest Reserve East Maui, Hawaii. (Credit: Forest and Kim Starr / CC BY 3.0 US) Originally, mosquito deliveries began in 2023 with twice weekly helicopter deployments into remote forests on Maui and Kaua'i, but drone deployments are so much safer for the humans delivering the mosquitoes. 'This opens up a lot of possibilities now and into the future,' Mr Knox pointed out. 'With a drone, we have more flexibility with deployment timing in areas that generally have very unpredictable weather, and it's safer because no humans need to ride in the aircraft as pilot and crew to deploy the mosquitoes.' Your job looks like it's fun. Is it? 'My parents got me a Tyco Wild Thing as my first RC car when I was probably 5 or 6 years old and since then I have been into the RC hobby on and off throughout my life, spanning cars, planes, helicopters and drones,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'To be able to have my professional pursuits overlap with a hobby that brings me joy is something many only dream about so I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to apply this skillset and knowledge toward helping some of the most endangered wildlife on the planet.' "What we're doing is difficult and it has required a lot of long days for dozens of people scattered across the country working together over multiple years now,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'It's been worth every ounce of effort with what we've been able to learn while getting these specialized IIT mosquitoes out into some of the most challenging landscapes imaginable in order to give these birds a fighting chance at recovery.' Even as these IIT mosquitoes are being delivered to their targets, are there other conservation efforts ongoing? 'Yes, there are,' Mr Knox replied in email. 'The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has two facilities in Hawai'i where small populations of several endangered bird species are being kept and captively bred. The sooner mosquitoes are suppressed, the sooner these critically endangered birds can be returned to the wild and begin to re-establish themselves.' Whilst the IIT mosquito effort is currently the best tool we have for controlling invasive disease-carrying mosquitoes, it works hand in hand with other conservation efforts being led on the ground by Birds, Not Mosquitoes partners, including habitat restoration and invasive species and predator control. A critially endangered Hawai'ian Kiwikiu (Pseudonestor xanthophrys) or hookbilled honeycreeper. ... More There are fewer than 200 of these birds remaining. (Credit: Robby Kohley, image appears here courtesy of the American Bird Conservancy.) The mosquito, Aedes aegypti, was initially introduced to the Hawaiian Islands sometime after 1882 by whaling ships, so any ecological role these insects may fill either as prey or pollinators is a recent development. Which is another way to say that it is extremely unlikely that any native bird species has become dependent upon them as a critical food resource. But this invasive mosquito species is quite efficient at transmitting a variety of debilitating diseases to humans, such as dengue, chikugunya, Zika virus, and malaria, just to name a few. Originally, the Aedes aegypti mosquito was restricted to Hawai'i's lower elevations, which allowed some of Hawai'i's honeycreepers to live at higher elevations and thus survive. However, climate change has allowed mosquitoes to expand their range upwards, so now all of Hawai'i's remaining native bird species are in danger of vanishing forever. 'Without significantly reducing invasive mosquito populations, multiple native bird species will disappear forever in the near future,' said Chris Farmer, the American Bird Conservancy's Hawai'i Program Director. How many native Hawai'ian bird species have been driven extinct by avian malaria so far? 'At least 33 species of honeycreeper are now extinct, and many of the 17 that remain, including the Kiwikiu and ʻĀkohekohe on Maui, and ʻAkekeʻe on Kauaʻi, are highly endangered,' Dr Farmer replied. 'Last year, the ʻAkikiki became functionally extinct in the wild, and mosquitoes could cause other species to quickly decline and vanish if no action is taken.' The ʻakikiki (Oreomystis bairdi), also called the Kauaʻi creeper, is now functionally extinct, ... More thanks to avian malaria spread by invasive mosquitoes. (Credit: Robby Kohley, image appears here courtesy of American Bird Conservancy.) 'Reducing invasive mosquito populations is absolutely critical in preventing the extinction of Hawai'i's vulnerable honeycreepers,' Dr Farmer continued. 'We have the technology to break the avian disease cycle in Hawai'i, and a fighting chance to restore populations. We are the generation that can save honeycreepers like Maui's Kiwikiu, and with a population of less than 150 individuals, these drone and mosquito suppression advancements have come just in time.' I highly recommend that you watch this moving video, Vanishing Voices, which shows how ABC is working with its Birds, Not Mosquitoes partners to prevent the extinction of the iconic native bird species in Hawai'i. This wonderful, hopeful video shares the gorgeous songs of these vanishing birds. © Copyright by GrrlScientist | hosted by Forbes | Socials: Bluesky | CounterSocial | LinkedIn | Mastodon Science | MeWe | Spoutible | SubStack | Threads | Tumblr | Twitter
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Increased movement of people making dengue outbreaks more common, says mosquito expert
The Lautoka City Council carried out anti mosquito spraying soon after a Dengue Clean Up campaign over the weekend. Photo: Ministry of Health & Medical Services - Fiji Dengue fever outbreaks have been surging in recent decades but new initiatives like infecting mosquitos with bacteria or genetic modification could dramatically slow the spread. According to the World Health Organization there was just over 500,0000 reported cases in 2000 - ballooning to 5.2 million in 2019. Last year, there were 14 million dengue cases - a record number dwarfing the previous 2023 high of 6.5 million. This year, there's been 2.5 million. Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands have all declared dengue outbreaks . Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have each had at least one death from the viral infection. Greg Devine from the World Mosquito Program said increased globalisation is making outbreaks more common. Devine said mosquitos that carry the virus "hitchhike around the world" and the increased movement of people is increasing those infected by dengue. Devine said a lot of people also don't have immunity. "They don't have any protection against it because they've never been exposed to it before," he said. "Dengue comes in four different serotypes, so just because you've had one doesn't mean you can't get another." Photo: 123RF He said climate change was having an increasing impact . "We are hotter and wetter than we've ever been before and that's great for mosquitoes. It also means that the virus in mosquitoes is replicating more rapidly." The aedes aegypti mosquito - which carries dengue - is considered a tropical or subtropical mosquito, but Devine said warmer weather would also increase the mosquitoes' range of where it inhabits. In the Pacific, health ministries are trying to stamp out mosquito breeding grounds and are spraying insecticides outside. But Devine said doing so has had limited success in reducing the spread. He said the aedes aegypti mosquito is "completely reliant upon humans for its blood meals" which meant it liked to stay indoors, not outdoors where the majority of the spraying happens. "Outdoor use of insecticides, it's perhaps better than nothing and the truth is that the community wants to see something happening. "That's a very visible intervention but the reality is, there's a very limited evidence base for its impact." Mosquitoes continually exposed to insecticides would also evolve resistance, Devine said. The World Mosquito Programme infects mosquitos with a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia, which stops viruses like dengue growing in the mosquitoes' bodies. Photo: 123RF "It's been trialled in New Caledonia , where it's been extremely successful," Devine said. "In the years since, the mosquito releases have been made by the World Mosquito Program, there's been no dengue epidemics where once they were extremely common." He said genetically modified mosquitoes were also being looked at as a solution. "That's a different kind of strategy, where you release large numbers of mosquitoes which have been modified in a way which means when those males interact with the local mosquito female population, the resulting offspring are not viable, and so that can crash the entire population." When asked if that could collapse the entire aedes aegypti mosquito population, Devine said he wouldn't be "particularly worried about decimating numbers". "People often refer to it as the kind of cockroach of the mosquito world. "It's very, very closely adapted to the human population in most parts of its range. The species evolved in Africa and has since, spread throughout the world. It's not a particularly important mosquito for many ecosystems."
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
City of Palestine to start summer mosquito spraying soon
PALESTINE, Texas (KETK) — Residents of Palestine can be assured that the city is taking steps to control the mosquito population this summer thanks to scheduled maintenance. East Texas onion season looking good as harvest begins The City of Palestine will spray for summer mosquitoes starting on Monday, May 26. To ensure coverage, mosquito control is divided into six areas which are sprayed twice annually. The first three areas will be covered on May 26, while areas four, five and six are scheduled to be sprayed on May 29. The spraying will begin at 9 p.m. and continue until 5 a.m. on those days. Vector Disease Control International is the service Palestine will use for their mosquito spray. The City of Palestine encourages residents with complaints or concerns to contact their environmental service division at 903-731-8435. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Little chicken whisperer': Tommy, sentinel flocks and the fight against deadly mosquito-borne viruses
Every Sunday evening Bec Parker, helped by her two-year-old son Tommy, takes a pinprick of blood from each of the 15 chickens in their regional New South Wales yard. Using blotting paper to collect the tiny samples from under the birds' wings, they work their way through the flock without drama. After three years of the ritual, Parker is well practised. 'The chickens' welfare is the most important thing to us, so we've worked out a way to do it very quickly and easily,' says the mental health social worker. 'My son hugs them. We call him the little chicken whisperer.' Her family's suburban block in Wagga Wagga is home to one of the state's 13 inland flocks of sentinel chickens, a battalion of birds on the frontline protecting public health. The chickens, hosted in urban and semi-urban settings, are part of NSW Health's defences against mosquito-borne diseases including the potentially deadly Japanese encephalitis and Murray Valley encephalitis, as well as Kunjin and Ross River viruses. Parker's home is close to a lake and wetlands: prime mosquito territory. Samples from her Sunday evening blood collection during the wet and warm season are dried and then express-posted to the medical entomology laboratory at Westmead hospital in Sydney, where they are analysed. The chickens' samples serve as an early warning system, triggering a raft of public health responses if one is found to carry an arbovirus that affects humans. By the end of the peak mosquito season (which typically runs from November to April in Victoria and NSW), NSW had recorded five cases of Japanese encephalitis. Two cases, contracted in the Murrumbidgee region, were fatal. There have been four deaths from Japanese encephalitis in NSW since the outbreak was detected in 2022, according to NSW Health. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia's fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter As with humans, mosquitoes are attracted to chickens' exhalations of CO2 – but unlike humans, chickens are continuously exposed to the insects. Despite being bitten up to 1,000 times a night, the birds do not develop viruses. Before this year's human cases emerged, the virus was detected in a sentinel flock overseen by Tony Burns, NSW Health's senior environmental health officer in the Murrumbidgee and Southern NSW regions. 'We're able to use that early information to provide … information to the general public,' Burns says. 'Cover up, spray up, use your mosquito repellent, screen up your home. People take that message – we hope.' Along with the chicken samples, mosquitoes are trapped over the course of one night a week and sent to the lab for testing. Even if a virus is detected in the mosquitoes, the result does not indicate if there is enough virus to cause transmission. Chickens solve that problem, according to the arbovirus emerging diseases unit's Assoc Prof Linda Hueston. NSW's sentinel chickens date back to the 1970s. In 1974, an outbreak of Murray Valley encephalitis swept across parts of the country. Parker first heard about the program on the radio and contacted NSW Health to register her interest. 'I just thought it was fascinating, I didn't realise chickens could be used as a first line of defence,' she says. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Going beyond NSW Health's strict specifications for the chickens' cages, Parker and her husband have converted a carport to create a 'very large' enclosure with fox-proof mesh, shade, nesting boxes, water stations and an automated misting system to keep the birds cool. 'We want them to have a lovely time in our back yard,' she says. Victoria also started a sentinel chicken program in 1974 which continued until 2021, when its flocks were retired. A spokesperson for VicHealth said the surveillance system had been superseded by advances in technology that allowed mosquitoes to be directly and more rapidly tested. In 2021, the Victorian government said: 'This new molecular testing method enables mosquito samples to be screened directly and has been used in Victoria since 2019 to screen mosquitoes for Ross River virus and Barmah Forest virus.' The laboratory results are available 'within days'. But given the prevalence of Japanese encephalitis since 2022, chickens continue to do a 'very important' job that is potentially saving people's lives in NSW, insists Burns. '[NSW Health's medical entomologists] still believe it is a very worthwhile, low-cost method that provides the right information in a timely way.' Parker is onboard for as long as she can help, she says. The hens also play a role in her family's permaculture routine, eating food scraps and providing nutrients for their veggie patch, while surplus eggs are shared with the children's school teachers, who have now learned about the program. 'I just love knowing that we have the first line of defence at the moment. Being part of the greater good for the health of the community – it feels pretty good,' Parker says. 'Every time Tony calls asking do we want to do the next season of chickens, we tell him we'd love to stay in the program for as long as it is running.' Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter
