DEM says EEE
found nearby…James Canyon Virus…Why they bite you…Why you need to take the
pledge…And stick on a patch
By
Will Collette
Eastern
Equine Encephalitis (EEE, Triple E) was found in mosquitoes trapped in nearby
Voluntown, CT, leading
the DEM and RI Department of Health to step up their caution to residents
to take steps to avoid getting bitten. We all already know this is a bad year for bugs, so be careful out there.
Connecticut
health officials are alarmed because this is the earliest in the season
that they’ve seen EEE show up in their tests.
They are also sounding the alarm for residents to take extra measures to prevent bites.
Jamestown Canyon
Virus? WTF?
As
if West Nile and EEE wasn’t bad enough, the Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station in Stonington trapped mosquitoes carrying the Jamestown Canyon Virus.
Why me?
Smithsonian
Magazine did a great
piece answering that question. They noted there are lots of factors at work
that make some people more attractive to mosquitoes than others. Some examples:
Blood Type. Type O gets
bit the most. Type A the least. Mosquitoes are twice as likely to bite a person
with Type O blood than Type A.
Weight, exercise
and smell.
Mosquitos are far more likely to bit adults than children and not just because
adults are bigger. They are drawn to exhaled carbon dioxide which is one reason
why they are drawn to you when you exercise and sweat. They also like lactic
and uric acid excretions, also associated with exercise and sweat. And they
like skin bacteria which may account for why they often bite ankles and feet.
Pregnancy. Pregnant women
get bitten twice as often as the general population.
Clothing Color. Mosquitoes
like to go after people who wear black, dark blue or red clothing. It makes you
easier for them to see.
And, oh the
horror
Just
one 12
oz. can or bottle of beer will make you far more attractive to mosquitoes.
Unfortunately, researchers haven’t been able to figure out why.
Given the dire implications of these findings, I would think a emergency crash research program is needed.
Is this patch
the cure?
A
new anti-mosquito
product is coming out that is supposed to act as an invisibility cloak for
humans, allowing them to escape mosquito detection for up to 48 hours.
Called the Kite Patch, it is FDA-approved and supposedly non-toxic. It sticks
to clothing.
The
Kite Patch will be tried out in Africa
first where mosquito-borne diseases (malaria, West Nile, etc.) exact a terrible
toll.
The
Kite Patch inhibits mosquitoes’ ability to detect the carbon dioxide you
excrete (see previous Bug Bits segments). It was developed with support from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the NIH.
It
will not be marketed in the US until it is certified by the EPA. The FDA
approval, and successful trials in Africa, should help.