´Operation mosquito´ fights bites

GLEISER, R.M.; PERICH M. J.

LOUISIANA AGRICULTURE

LSUAgCTR

Lugar: Baton Rouge, LA; Año: 2003 vol. 46 p. 15 - 18

0024-6735

The tropical and subtropical climate in Louisiana creates conditions that support several viral mosquito-borne diseases. In the summer of 2002, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Office of Public Health (DHH/OPH) funded a team of LSU AgCenter entomologists and other personnel to conduct Operation Mosquito. The purpose was to determine what potential vectors of West Nile were present in 12 parishes that had reported a human case of West Nile but were without organized mosquito abatement programs and to gather information on the mosquito abundance in these parishes. For each of the parishes, sites in proximity to reported West Nile cases and the various ecological habitats within that parish were selected for samples. Mosquitoes were collected three times a week for nine consecutive weeks, using gravid traps, miniature light traps and ovitraps. More than 160,000 mosquitoes were collected, representing the 10 genera of mosquitoes known to occur in Louisiana, and 43 of the approximately 64 species for the state. The species composition and relative importance in terms of number of mosquitoes collected varied between parishes. Because of this variation in the mosquito populations, the approaches to mosquito control will be different for each parish. Besides the survey, a series of recommendations for arbovirus vector surveillance were provided as part of Operation Mosquito