Fiona Hunter peers into the metallic mesh box where hundreds of mosquitoes buzz back and forth.<\/p>\n
She rolls up the sleeve of her white lab coat and puts her arm into an opening on one side of the box \u2013 it\u2019s a sleeve designed to allow human arms to enter the trap to feed the blood-thirsty pests.<\/p>\n
She watches them with a smile on her face, hoping they\u2019re hungry.<\/p>\n
She wants them to bite her. After a few minutes, she\u2019s disappointed when they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Hunter\u2019s respect for the insects is written all over her face as she talks about her research at Brock University. Her smile only widens when the discussion moves from mosquitoes to her favourite biting bug \u2013 the black fly.<\/p>\n
Hunter, a Brock professor and medical entomologist, has made studying biting insects her life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
First, she examined black flies in Algonquin Park and how they transmit bird malaria in waterfowl.<\/p>\n
Then, when West Nile virus cropped up, the Public Health Agency of Canada asked her to start a mosquito surveillance program that she still runs at Brock.<\/p>\n
Today, Hunter is on the cutting-edge of research into the Zika virus and how mosquitoes transmit it. She was part of a global summit in Brazil in March.<\/p>\n
Hunter and her work on Zika has been the focus of massive media attention around the world. She has given interviews to everyone from CBC\u2019s The National to Discovery Channel\u2019s Daily Planet along with local publications and international outlets. The interest in Zika is only rivaled by the intense media spotlight on her research during the emergence of West Nile virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still working on West Nile. There are many questions yet to be answered about transmission,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n