Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 9 october 2017

Health officials watching mosquitoes in Texas after Harvey

By JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press vey washed away mos- that’s something that we
DALLAS (AP) — Health of- quito eggs, “nuisance” are going to continue to
ficials in Texas will be on mosquitoes emerged. monitor,” Shah said.
watch in coming weeks for Those don’t typically carry Sven Rodenbeck, chief sci-
any increases in mosquito- disease but can have an ence officer of the Centers
borne diseases including impact on recovery efforts for Disease Control and
the West Nile and Zika vi- by swarming people as Prevention’s hurricane re-
ruses after Harvey’s heavy they clean up and repair. sponse, said there’s a po-
rains and flooding brought Any remaining standing tential for upticks in mos-
water that filled ponds and water is an issue because quito-borne diseases after
ditches and crept into trash Culex mosquitoes tend to hurricanes, so “that’s why
and debris that piled up. lay eggs in larger areas of you normally do moni-
“We’re not out of the still water like ponds and toring and as appropri-
woods. I still think we don’t ditches, while the Aedes ate do mosquito control
really know what we’re go- In this Sept. 7, 2017, file photo, homeowner Sohail Soomro dumps usually breeds in small wa- activities.”In the U.S. main-
ing to see, so that’s why flood damage debris on his front yard in the aftermath of Hur- ter-filled containers near land, Florida and Texas are
we’ve got to monitor it,” ricane Harvey at the Canyon Gate community in Katy, Texas. homes. the only two states that
Associated Press
said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean “So all of that debris and have seen local transmis-
of the National School of dated from Harvey. who do may have fever, trash that you see around sion of Zika, which can
Tropical Medicine at Bay- “It looks like they’ve got- headache, vomiting and Houston as the floodwa- cause brain damage in
lor College of Medicine in ten pretty good results,” diarrhea. In rare cases, ters recede, there’s going babies whose mothers are
Houston. “The next month said health department people develop severe ill- to be pockets of water in infected when pregnant.
is going to be the critical spokesman Chris Van Deu- nesses such as encephalitis there —old discarded TV Officials in Florida, where
time,” he added. sen, adding, “Hopefully it and meningitis, which can sets, old discarded tires — Hurricane Irma hit two
Officials are hopeful, will prevent any kind of up- be deadly. Texas has had and that could easily led weeks after Harvey, are
though, that aerial and tick.” at least 100 human cases to an increase in Aedes also closely monitoring for
ground spraying done af- Of particular concern is this year, including three aegypti,” Hotez said. mosquito-borne diseases
ter Hurricane Harvey made West Nile. Texas trails only deaths. As expected in the Houston and have increased spray-
landfall on Aug. 25 will help California this year in the While there’s currently no area, an increase in mos- ing in several areas. Florida
ensure that populations number of cases of the evidence of ongoing trans- quitoes came about two also currently has no on-
don’t swell. The Texas De- virus, which is transmit- mission of mosquito-borne weeks after the storm. But going transmission of Zika,
partment of State Health ted from infected birds diseases including Zika, Dr. Umair Shah, executive chikungunya or dengue,
Services said more than to humans by the com- dengue or chikungunya in director of Harris County and this year has only had
7 million acres (2.8 million mon Culex mosquito. Most Texas — all three spread by Public Health, said officials one locally acquired case
hectares) were sprayed by people don’t develop the Aedes aegypti mosqui- were able to get those of West Nile.Health officials
plane across areas inun- any symptoms, but those to — officials are watching numbers down with aerial in both states say residents
on guard for any emer- and ground spraying. need to stay vigilant by
gence. That could happen “We’re pretty confident using mosquito repellent,
if someone who had trav- that the combination of wearing clothing that cov-
eled to a place with ac- everything we’ve done ers arms and legs, and
tive cases got the disease, has reduced the risk of draining standing water.
returned to Texas and was mosquito-borne disease in “There’s only so much
bitten by a mosquito that our community, especially that government and
in turn bites and infects for West Nile virus. But we public health and mos-
Tour to the Red Light Lipstixaruba@outlook.com someone else. don’t know if that risk will quito control can do,”
District with a Private Van Deusen said that after return if we have an in- said Shah, adding, “It re-
Guide & a FREE bottle (297) 630-5329 a brief reprieve as heavy crease in mosquitoes over ally is a partnership with our
of wine... rains and floods from Har- the next several weeks and community.”q