California countryside hatch plans mosquitoes designed to fight stealth predators

Bryan Ruiz moved his family to a newly built home in this Central Valley agricultural center seven months ago and almost immediately noticed that they had been assaulted.

Mosquitoes bite and harassed in the daytime. He looked around and tried to find a source of water for them to breed, and noticed a newly dug pipe intended to drain water forward from the backyard. He lifted the cap and found a small puddle inside the drain line. This puddle did not have enough slope to completely empty it.

He grabbed the turkey Buster and drew water and already knew what he would find: Larva Egyptian templeOne of the greatest threats to humans on earth.

Lewis traveled to northern Turea County during the summer months, Egyptian templeMosquitoes that can infect humans with deadly diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya fever, yellow fever, and Zika fever.

Since building a foothold in California within 10 years Egyptian temple Spread Soon across the state, its territory now extends from the desert region of Imperial County on the US-Mexico border to the city of Redding in Shasta County, a forest about 750 miles north.

To fight Aedes aegyptiMosquito control areas are the same tools used decades ago: pesticides and water sources, even if climate change and agricultural practices allow mosquitoes to breed in previously uninhabitable areas. Depends on the eradication of.

However, Turea county officials are trying to prevent the outbreak of the currently common types of diseases in the Caribbean and Latin America, hoping that the region will soon become a test site for new generations of technology, including genetically modified mosquitoes. I’m out. Egyptian temple Widely used.

The most imminent mosquito danger in Turea County comes from another genus. Culex pipiens, Usually biting at dawn and dusk, are the types that can carry West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, and Western horse encephalomyelitis virus, all of which can be fatal. Over the last decade, California has registered more than 4,000 cases of West Nile fever and at least 220 deaths. The Turea mosquito control area has devoted a great deal of resources to the battle, including the release of various chemicals, the maintenance of larval-eating fish hatcheries, and more recently the purchase of drones to carry pesticides deep into cornfields. rice field.

Egyptian templeHowever, there are growing concerns and it is much more difficult to fight.

To understand this battle, you first need to understand how stealth it is. Egyptian temple teeth. Mosquitoes can lay eggs in as small a space as a bottle cap, and women spread their eggs in multiple locations — scientists often call them “mysterious habitats.” Most other types of mosquito eggs need water to survive, Egyptian templeHas been dormant for months and will eventually come back to life when water comes. Then, one mosquito may bite many times, snacking on the same person repeatedly, or moving from one to the next. If one of those people happens to have dengue or another virus, they pose a deadly threat.

In an increasingly globalized world, people regularly travel to places where dengue is endemic and bring it back to the United States. If mosquitoes bite them, the disease can spread locally. That’s what happened in the Florida Keys in 2020, and more than 70 people were infected before the outbreak stopped.

California has so far avoided the local outbreaks of the disease carried by Egyptian temple..But it imports the case — California registered 7 cases As the number of imported dengue fever increases this year — and the number of mosquitoes increases, experts say it is likely to be a matter of time.

Egyptian temple Frequent flyer travels around the world with mileage service. It has definitely been introduced millions of times in California. But it was only recently established, said Chris Barker, an associate professor of pathology, microbiology, and immunology at the University of California, Davis. It was first detected in 2013 in three California cities: Menlo Park, Clovis and Madera.

today, Egyptian temple It spans more than 200 California cities and 22 counties. And it puts a strain on the mosquito control area. “It was a lot of extra work, extra staffing, and extra financial demand,” Barker said. “And regardless of the risk of illness, the big problem is biting the obstruction.”

Because of the threat posed by mosquitoes Aedes aegypti Discovered in 2014 by the Delta Mosquito and Vector Control District where Lewis works, the District was in a hurry to counteract the threat. The eradication method had to be searched everywhere in the area. Egyptian temple I set up my house and cleaned the water source several times a week. According to district assistant manager Mir Bear-Johnson, people were so annoyed by court coverage that nearly five years had passed before the community contacted them again. This was a problem as the district relies partially on reports from residents to know where the mosquitoes are.

The eradication was also short-lived. 2015, Egyptian temple Was reintroduced, and this time the terrible pain spread throughout Visalia, the region’s largest city.because Egyptian temple In March 2020, entomologist Mustafa Devoon, who heads the Delta district from Harris County, Texas, said eradication is no longer an option, as it has become ubiquitous in the Central Valley.

Egyptian temple Mosquitoes in this area are also widely resistant to pyrethroids, a family of chemicals most often used to kill adult mosquitoes. Pyrethroids are frequently used by agricultural companies in the region and may contribute to what Barker has stated to be nearly 100% resistant.

That is why Debboun and his colleagues are interested in genetically modified mosquitoes.Their hope is that artificial mosquitoes will reduce the number of wild mosquitoes Egyptian temple They mate and give birth to short-lived offspring.

The US Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a test of artificial mosquitoes in Turea, made by a company called Oxitec. According to the company, the latest products release only male mosquitoes and, unlike females, do not chew. Mosquitoes are genetically modified to carry the “self-limiting” gene that is inherited during breeding, theoretically preventing offspring from surviving into adulthood. They have been released in several places, including Brazil and the Cayman Islands.

They were also released at the Florida Keys last year. There, Oxitec faced a backlash from some homeowners concerned about the unexpected risk of releasing GM pests into the wild. Local authorities put the issue on a 2016 ballot, and county residents who had previously faced both dengue and Zika resolved to move forward.

Currently, the Oxitec and Delta mosquito districts are waiting for permission to launch insects from the California Agricultural Chemicals Authority. According to Debboun, this work is funded by Oxitec and funded by staff operations.

The goal is to build on previous research. Egyptian temple While temporarily reducing wild mosquito populations, scientists are questioning the broader environmental impact and how well long-term efforts to reduce disease are working. Among the unknowns is whether Oxitec mosquitoes are actually unable to produce viable offspring with wild females.

Another question, according to Barker, an expert at the University of California, Davis, is what happens when Oxitech mosquitoes encounter tetracycline in the wild. Tetracycline is a commonly used antibiotic to control infections in livestock and agriculture, both of which are abundant in the Central Valley. Oxitec mosquitoes are bred with a type of off-switch that shuts down self-limiting genes when in contact with tetracycline. In the lab, this off-switch allows the company to breed artificial mosquitoes. The concern is that mosquito offspring will not die if it is caused in the wild.

At a broader level, Barker said he wanted California to independently track the experiment. He is one of the researchers concerned about putting the analysis in the hands of a profitable private company. “If the company agrees on an independent source when all the results come out, it’s much more powerful and much more likely in the future,” Barker said.

Rajeev Vaidyanathan, General Manager of the US Division of Oxitec, said Tulare’s Delta Mosquito and Vector Control Districts are one of several districts of interest in hosting trials. One of the selling points was Debboun’s enthusiasm for new technologies.

Debboun previously helped test a product called Mosquito Mate, which releases male mosquitoes infected with bacteria, in Houston. Wolbachia.. When MosquitoMate mosquitoes breed with wild females, they lay eggs that do not hatch. These mosquitoes were also tested in Fresno County in 2018 and 2019, reducing females by 95%. Egyptian templeaccording to Study on trial..Still, that mosquito district Said to Fresnoby I didn’t have the money to continue the project alone.

“These are great and glittering options,” said Eva Buckner, an assistant professor at the University of Florida, who advises Florida’s mosquito control districts. “I think they have a lot of potential.” She wants to know how the cost-benefit ratio for widespread use by government agencies compared to other interventions. This is a question that can be determined by Tulare’s research. And regardless of price, she warned, there is no silver bullet for mosquitoes that has endured on Earth for millions of years.

Oxitec wanted to test the technique in dry Central California. Egyptian temple-Invaded the southwest. Oxitec wants mosquitoes to eventually be sold to US mosquito control areas and sold directly to US consumers. This option is already available in Brazil via a $ 10 to $ 30 monthly consumer subscription service. In the US prototype, the mosquito was in a hexagonal box decorated with playful insects. If everything goes according to plan, consumers simply add water and the mosquitoes will come back to life.

This story was generated by KHNWill be published California HealthlineEditorial independent service California Healthcare Foundation..