It’s one of several mosquito control districts across the United States working to keep one of the world’s deadliest creatures in check — one that’s poised to grow as climate change creates a warmer and wetter environment.
Mosquitoes, while harmful, are also important to ecosystems across the world, with varied species functioning as pollinators or food sources for fish, birds, and frogs.
Branham had agreed to allow the South American insects to feast on her blood
In a recently published article from The Detroit News, it’s lunchtime in the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District, and a colony of sabethes cyaneus, often known as the paddle-legged beauty because of its feathery appendages and iridescent colors, makes its way to Ella Branham. They’re not very aggressive or fussy eaters, said to Branham, a technician, as she breathed into a glass tank to attract the insects to the carbon dioxide in her breath. As a result, I’ll be feeding them with my arm.
Mosquitoes may transmit diseases such as dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. They are particularly dangerous to public health in Asia and Africa, but they are also being actively monitored in the United States. According to the United States, local organizations recorded more than 1,100 cases of West Nile virus in 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The majority of those who develop West Nile have no symptoms
In a recently published article from Los Angeles Times, over the previous 25 years, approximately 3,000 deaths and more than 25,000 hospitalizations have been connected to West Nile in the United States, with the majority occurring in August. This year, West Nile fatalities have been documented in Texas and Colorado, and mosquitoes are considered to be the source of “locally acquired” malaria cases in Maryland, Florida, and Texas.
According to Ary Faraji, executive director of the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District and an entomologist, the mosquito season is starting earlier and continuing longer as the environment warms. The district used to close in mid-September every year, but that has gone later and later. Last year, personnel from the district were still placing and monitoring traps until Thanksgiving.
