​US - Controlling Zika mosquitoes may be 'lost cause'

[Pathfinder]

Controlling Zika mosquitoes may be 'lost cause'

Liz Szabo, USA TODAY 6:56 a.m. EDT May 3, 2016

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Recent efforts to kill the Aedes aegypti, which also transmits the viral diseases dengue and chikungunya, "don't give us much reason for optimism," said Scott Weaver, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "In the near term, it's a lost cause."

Eradication is also stymied by a lack of information about exactly where these mosquitoes live, Weaver said. Knowing which cities and counties they inhabit could help communities target their efforts.

"In a lot of places in the U.S., people don't know if Aedes aegypti is there or not," Weaver said.
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While aerial spraying or fogging from a truck after can kill the Culex mosquitoes that can spread West Nile virus and or the "nuisance" mosquitoes that annoy people but don't spread disease, these methods have no effect on the Aedes aegypti, Doyle said.

?We cannot spray our way out of this," said Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County, Texas, Public Health and Environmental Services, at a national summit on Zika preparedness in April.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/02/controlling-zika-mosquitoes-may-lost-cause/83512672/

[Pathfinder]

Zika 'Very Likely' to Spread From Mosquitoes to Humans in US, Official Says

By GILLIAN MOHNEY JULIE BARZILAY May 3, 2016, 4:15 PM ET
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, said at a press conference today he thought it was "very likely" that Zika virus would spread from mosquitoes to humans in the U.S. in the future, but stressed that officials think the outbreaks will be constrained in the same manner as past domestic outbreaks of dengue fever and chikungunya.

And while a recent USA Today article categorized control of the mosquito that spreads Zika as a ?lost cause,? Fauci cautioned against that mentality.

?Aedes aegypti is a very difficult mosquito to control and eliminate,? he said. ?That doesn?t mean it?s impossible to have a significant impact on it -- but it will require a very aggressive, concerted effort.?

The USA Today article pointed out that Aedes aegypti cannot be eliminated as effectively as some other species by traditional insecticide-spraying methods. But there are still other protective measures that the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization can and will engage.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Health/zika-spread-insects-humans-us-official/story?id=38840982