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LOGAN — At Utah State University, medical entomologist Scott Bernhardt lets mosquitoes temporarily feed on his own arm or on newly developed mechanical baits. Unlike mosquitoes in the wild, none of the lab bugs carry dangerous viruses, but he lets them do their thing so he and his colleagues can understand and control them.
USU stays in close contact with mosquito-abatement districts throughout the state — monitoring how well adult flyers respond to mass spraying or more preferable mixtures that destroy larvae in ponds and standing pools.
"We have mosquitoes within our lab where at 15 to 20 generations we're starting to see resistance build up in those populations," Bernhardt said. "We would like to be able to predict resistance and provide recommendations through effective diagnostics."
Abatement districts need that backup because technicians want to make sure compounds are safe but at the same time override potential resistance, especially for species transporting high-risk pathogens. Many of those species are currently at USU's lab, including the mosquito which carries the Zika virus and sand flies which can spread another potentially dangerous disease. In fact, USU is working with the National Institutes of Health, exploring ways to control the sand fly from India which in that country carries a deadly parasite.
While the mosquito carrying the Zika virus is not native to our state and couldn't survive up north, Southern Utah is a different story. According to Bernhardt, "There's the potential for Aedes aegypti to become established in those parts of the state because of the warmer climate down there."
Zika is not the only concern. Utah's native mosquitoes already carry the West Nile virus which made its entry into the state several years ago.
Genetic alterations
At other labs around the country, scientists are exploring ways to genetically alter mosquitoes.
"If we can genetically modify those mosquitoes," Bernhardt said, "they won't lay eggs very well or they'll die at a more rapid pace."
One company, Oxitec, has already successfully altered mosquito genes and is working in collaboration with the Florida Keys Mosquito Abatement District. But the science is controversial and proposed field testing in that state has triggered public comment from groups opposing the move.
Genetic manipulation aside, control is what it's all about. Mosquitoes, fleas and even tics which in some parts of Utah have been linked to the disabling Lyme disease and USU researchers are looking at effective ways to control all of them.
