Enhancing Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus Surveillance in New Jersey: Optimized Collection of Culiseta melanura
Published in Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 2024
This study occurred during my time in the New Jersey Department of Health as part of an EIS project led by Anna Fagre. This involved several staff from mosquito control districts, the state health department, and other CDC colleagues. My role was in setting up mosquito traps, sample collection, mosquito identification, and data cleaning/collection.
We found that corrugated plastic boxes and non-CO2 baited traps could improve detection of Culiseta melanura, the primary mosquito vector of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV). This result is surprising given that the expected outcome was more mosquitoes would be collected from wooden resting boxes, which are the gold standard for collecting bloodfed Cs. melanura mosquitoes.
The results of this study can assist mosquito control agencies in collecting more EEEV vectors, and also encourages agencies to periodically assist their surveillance strategy for EEEV.
Recommended citation: Fagre AC, Soto RA, Magleby R, Cuadera MKQ, Sun A, Cervantes K, Crans SC, Panella NA, Kenney JL, Angelus A, Burkhalter KL, Woell D, Horiuchi K, Biggerstaff BJ, Staples JE, Connelly R, Martin SW, Komar N. Enhancing Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus Surveillance in New Jersey: Optimized Collection of Culiseta melanura. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 2024 Jun 1;40(2):92-101. doi: 10.2987/23-7148. PMID: 38587266.
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