A team of federal and state entomologists are on the prowl this week in South Kona, setting traps for dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
A team of federal and state entomologists are on the prowl this week in South Kona, setting traps for dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
With a makeshift lab set up temporarily in the Keakealani Building in Kealakekua, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention entomologist Ryan Hemme and his team have been surrounded this week with microscopes and groups of traps containing mosquitoes and swimming larvae.
They’re testing specimens for the dengue virus. In the field, they’re looking for mosquito breeding grounds and laying traps in places where the insects congregate — cool shady areas, under banana trees and in piles of refuse and old tires. They’re testing two types of traps to see which is most effective at luring the insects, and also looking around the homes where dengue cases have been confirmed to get a better idea what types of containers the mosquitoes prefer for breeding.
Their goal: to understand which types of mosquito are prevalent and most likely to be carrying the dengue virus.
The latest efforts are detailed in videos and information released to media by the state Department of Health on Thursday.
No new dengue cases were added to the tally on Thursday. Over the past week, new cases have appeared in Hilo. The virus is spreading in Puna as well, and Hamakua’s first case has popped up near Paauilo.
Potential cases around Volcano are among the 514 that have been ruled out since the outbreak began.
The CDC team has deployed a total of 40 traps at different sites, and they’ll be out for the next couple of weeks.
The team plans to repeat the study at other areas where dengue has been transmitted to compare similarities and differences in conditions and how that relates to populations of dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti and the Asian tiger mosquito, Hemme said.
The finding could help officials find ways to fight the outbreak both in the short and longer term.
The team includes CDC Dengue branch technician Gilberto Felix, DOH entomologist Jeomhee Hasty, a sanitarian and a vector control inspector. Hemme is the senior entomologist with the CDC Dengue Branch in Puerto Rico.