11-16-2007, 12:12 PM
If folks with experiences and insights regarding mosquito control and mosquito-borne disease on the Big Island in general and for Puna specifically would care to share their knowledge and experience then the favor would be genuinely appreciated. Some general topics regarding mosquitoes and mosquito-borne disease include:
Mosquito populations and dynamics (the species present and factors affecting seasonal densities).
Mosquito population control strategies (which strategies are currently actively in use and have been tried in the past, with what results?)
Mosquito-repellent strategies (efficacy and impacts; bio-friendly versus persistently toxic).
Mosquito-borne disease (present and not as yet present but being actively watched for, should such arrive).
Mosquito ecology (how do mosquitoes fit in the local plant and animal food webs and how does their presence, absence, or fluctuation in number affect other species?)
Economic aspects (costs of control efforts and costs when control efforts fail).
Some specific questions I have wondered about are:
Is it true clearing a sunlit open space completely around one's home greatly reduces the number of mosquitoes which find their way in (and, if so, then how wide a space need the clearing be in order to serve effectively as a mosquito barrier)?
I have heard that electrical mosquito-zappers wreak indiscriminate havoc across a wide range of insect species, creating unnecessary and unhelpful carnage. Is this the experience in Puna?
Does anyone have practical firsthand experience with any of the various devices which bait in mosquitoes (using pheromones, carbon dioxide, &/or vibrations) and then flame them with a propane burner or dehydrate them in a holding chamber? Some of these units claim to be able to clear large areas of mosquitoes.
Are stocks of mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) already permitted and available in Hawaii for placement in fresh surface water (such as ornamental ponds)?
Are mosquito-repellent impregnated bed-nettings available and in wide use for nighttime protection against bites on the the Big Island?
The military and others widely used DDT throughout the WWII and postwar eras with the result some populations became chemical resistant; are Big Island mosquito populations known to be chemical-resistant? Do any government agencies currently fog or spray insecticides? Oil surface waters (to suffocate mosquito larvae)? Do many private landowners fog for mosquitoes with chemical?
Are Bt bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis), which attack mosquito larvae while theoretically posing no threat to any other life form, already in use and available on the Big Island?
Does anyone know if coiqui frogs eat mosquitoes? Which animals native to Hawaii do eat mosquitoes?
Which mosquito-borne human, animal, and plant diseases are known to already be present on the Big Island? For example are chikungunya virus (also called knuckle fever), equine encephalitis, dengue fever, malaria, West Nile virus, or yellow fever present and observed as being actively communicated?
Finally, an article in Science News (week of Oct. 27, 2007; Vol. 172, No. 17 , p. 270) titled "'Knuckle fever' reaches Italy" indicates an emergent mosquito-borne disease may be en route to a Hawaiian destination. Science News health editor Brian Vastag quotes CDC epidemiologist Robert Breiman, who is stationed in Africa studying the spread of chikungunya virus. From the article: Once the virus is established in an area, "it's almost impossible to escape," ...French authorities reported 266,000 cases on Reunion Island, off Madagascar. There, health officials attributed 255 deaths to chikungunya, although the virus' lethality is debated. People almost never die from it, says Breiman, "although they wish they had." The crippling symptoms often clear up in a few weeks, but can sometimes linger for months. First identified in the 1950s, chikungunya means "stooped over in pain" in an African dialect. The illness used to be called knuckle fever, a reference to the swollen joints it can cause. Mosquito control is the best way to limit outbreaks, says Breiman, but "traditionally, that has been very hard to implement." Although epidemiologists have not established exactly how the disease spread so widely, Breiman says that it's likely that people infected in one area traveled to another, and then were bitten by local mosquitoes that continued the chain. Breiman says "the question now is will it continue to spread to other places that have" the right type of mosquito. "And I would think that is likely."
My personal experience in Southeast Asia with dengue fever (also known as "break bone fever" for the extreme joint pain it inflicts) and direct observation of others coping with malaria leads me to think prevention efforts are very much worth the bother, though of course we must strive to avoid cascades of unintended consequences (as with DDT) as much as possible.
Comments?
Edited by - AlaskaSteven on 11/19/2007 08:23:43
Mosquito populations and dynamics (the species present and factors affecting seasonal densities).
Mosquito population control strategies (which strategies are currently actively in use and have been tried in the past, with what results?)
Mosquito-repellent strategies (efficacy and impacts; bio-friendly versus persistently toxic).
Mosquito-borne disease (present and not as yet present but being actively watched for, should such arrive).
Mosquito ecology (how do mosquitoes fit in the local plant and animal food webs and how does their presence, absence, or fluctuation in number affect other species?)
Economic aspects (costs of control efforts and costs when control efforts fail).
Some specific questions I have wondered about are:
Is it true clearing a sunlit open space completely around one's home greatly reduces the number of mosquitoes which find their way in (and, if so, then how wide a space need the clearing be in order to serve effectively as a mosquito barrier)?
I have heard that electrical mosquito-zappers wreak indiscriminate havoc across a wide range of insect species, creating unnecessary and unhelpful carnage. Is this the experience in Puna?
Does anyone have practical firsthand experience with any of the various devices which bait in mosquitoes (using pheromones, carbon dioxide, &/or vibrations) and then flame them with a propane burner or dehydrate them in a holding chamber? Some of these units claim to be able to clear large areas of mosquitoes.
Are stocks of mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) already permitted and available in Hawaii for placement in fresh surface water (such as ornamental ponds)?
Are mosquito-repellent impregnated bed-nettings available and in wide use for nighttime protection against bites on the the Big Island?
The military and others widely used DDT throughout the WWII and postwar eras with the result some populations became chemical resistant; are Big Island mosquito populations known to be chemical-resistant? Do any government agencies currently fog or spray insecticides? Oil surface waters (to suffocate mosquito larvae)? Do many private landowners fog for mosquitoes with chemical?
Are Bt bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis), which attack mosquito larvae while theoretically posing no threat to any other life form, already in use and available on the Big Island?
Does anyone know if coiqui frogs eat mosquitoes? Which animals native to Hawaii do eat mosquitoes?
Which mosquito-borne human, animal, and plant diseases are known to already be present on the Big Island? For example are chikungunya virus (also called knuckle fever), equine encephalitis, dengue fever, malaria, West Nile virus, or yellow fever present and observed as being actively communicated?
Finally, an article in Science News (week of Oct. 27, 2007; Vol. 172, No. 17 , p. 270) titled "'Knuckle fever' reaches Italy" indicates an emergent mosquito-borne disease may be en route to a Hawaiian destination. Science News health editor Brian Vastag quotes CDC epidemiologist Robert Breiman, who is stationed in Africa studying the spread of chikungunya virus. From the article: Once the virus is established in an area, "it's almost impossible to escape," ...French authorities reported 266,000 cases on Reunion Island, off Madagascar. There, health officials attributed 255 deaths to chikungunya, although the virus' lethality is debated. People almost never die from it, says Breiman, "although they wish they had." The crippling symptoms often clear up in a few weeks, but can sometimes linger for months. First identified in the 1950s, chikungunya means "stooped over in pain" in an African dialect. The illness used to be called knuckle fever, a reference to the swollen joints it can cause. Mosquito control is the best way to limit outbreaks, says Breiman, but "traditionally, that has been very hard to implement." Although epidemiologists have not established exactly how the disease spread so widely, Breiman says that it's likely that people infected in one area traveled to another, and then were bitten by local mosquitoes that continued the chain. Breiman says "the question now is will it continue to spread to other places that have" the right type of mosquito. "And I would think that is likely."
My personal experience in Southeast Asia with dengue fever (also known as "break bone fever" for the extreme joint pain it inflicts) and direct observation of others coping with malaria leads me to think prevention efforts are very much worth the bother, though of course we must strive to avoid cascades of unintended consequences (as with DDT) as much as possible.
Comments?
Edited by - AlaskaSteven on 11/19/2007 08:23:43
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
Astonishing skill! This archer is a real-life Legolas and then some!
http://geekologie.com/2013/11/real-life-...rs-anc.php
)'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'( )'(
-- then with quick action perhaps knuckle fever may be swiftly diagnosed when it first appears and the mosquito vectors knocked out, pronto, before the virus can become established locally. There have been some real success stories in fighting mosquito-borne disease with quick and effective community-wide action.