Mosquito Sprays Can Reduce West Nile Virus Risk, Even If Population Numbers Don’t Drop
In a new study on truck-mounted mosquito-control sprays, the proportion of local mosquito populations that could potentially carry West Nile virus decreased after treatments, even though overall numbers of mosquitoes weren't affected—an "invisible" but positive sign about the utility of such mosquito management efforts.
New Study Improves Sterile Insect Technique for Mosquitoes
Researchers in Florida find that male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes live longer when irradiated as adults rather than pupae, an important advance in protocols for deploying the sterile insect technique to manage wild populations of disease-transmitting mosquitoes.
Biting Midges’ Overwintering Activity Offers Clues to Persistence of Bluetongue Virus
A new study gets closer to answering how Culicoides biting midges maintain transmission of bluetongue virus to cattle in temperate regions year after year, even though individual midges are unlikely to survive entire winters.
Feeding Deer Corn With Tick-Control Drug Shows Promise in New Study
A proof-of-concept study shows the potential of feeding wild white-tailed deer corn treated with moxidectin, a derivative of ivermectin that eliminates ticks. Deer are key hosts in tick lifecycles, and systemic treatment could aid in reducing tick abundances. And, unlike ivermectin, moxidectin in deer meat may be safely consumed with no required delay.