Mosquitoes species that weren’t previously present in the U.S. have arrived and are now expanding their ranges.
Aedes albopictus, or the Asian tiger mosquito, has spread throughout the world via international trade, and the mosquitoes follow major transportation routes.
Also, infected travelers can bring their infections home with them, causing further spread. This is one strong hypothesis as to how Zika began in Brazil—brought by attendees to the 2014 World Cup.
This is a growing concern about the upcoming summer 2016 Olympics in Brazil, along with spreading multi-drug resistant bacteria from the markedly polluted water.
The American Gulf states have similar climates to the endemic areas that are already plagued by arbovirus (insect and other arthropod) infections. There is concern that if Zika adapts to transmission by
A. albopictus, 32 states that host that mosquito will be at risk. Because the Asian tiger mosquito,
A. albopictus, can adapt to cold temperatures by becoming dormant during the winter in temperate regions, it is more likely to spread through the U.S.
Along with the range expansion, we’re seeing the spread of disease, with locally transmitted dengue in Florida in 2009, then Chikungunya in Florida in 2014. Antibodies to dengue, indicating previous infection, were found in 5% of Key West residents and in 38% of the Brownsville, TX residents tested.
Zika is likely exploding in Latin America because the virus was introduced into a population with no prior immunity. The Brazilian strain is quite similar genetically to one found in the South Pacific.
To control Zika, some people are suggesting more pesticide spraying, and news is full of images of fumigation in Brazil.
As with antibiotic overuse, resistance has developed to four of the six pesticides used against the
A. aegypti mosquito in the Keys, the main mosquito vector transmitting the dengue and Chikungunya viruses (although the aggressive Asian tiger mosquito,
A. albopictus, can do so as well).
Vaccines are certainly under development, but will likely take a long time. A recent editorial by Drs. Anthony Fauci and David Morens also dashes vaccines as a panacea, as being slow, cumbersome to apply, and costly. Such a vaccine would also only target Zika, doing nothing for the other mosquito-transmitted viruses.
With the explosive spread of Zika through Latin America, and realization that the virus will spread in the U.S. (though how large that would be is uncertain and being debated, with Peter Hotez, a Baylor tropical diseases and vaccine expert, being justifiably gloomier than officials), more attention has been focused on mosquitoes.
We are facing a crisis with mosquito-borne arboviral infections spreading throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and undoubtedly soon to threaten swaths of the continental U.S.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2016/02/01/mosquito-wars-update-would-you-choose-gmo-mutants-pesticides-dengue-or-zika-viruses/#47b24beb6b11
