{"id":40528,"date":"2016-08-15T10:08:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T14:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=40528"},"modified":"2016-08-15T10:10:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T14:10:31","slug":"dry-summer-makes-mosquito-collection-challenging-for-brocks-zika-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/08\/dry-summer-makes-mosquito-collection-challenging-for-brocks-zika-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry summer makes mosquito collection challenging for Brock\u2019s Zika researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a frustrating summer for researchers working on the Zika virus in Brock University\u2019s CL3 lab.\u00a0<\/span>The drought blanketing much of Ontario is not only adversely impacting crops; it\u2019s also hurting mosquito populations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur trap catches for mosquitoes are so low this year, it is unprecedented for us,\u201d said Professor Fiona Hunter, a medical entomologist. \u201cNormally we\u2019d be getting hundreds and hundreds of mosquitoes in traps. Now we are lucky if we get a dozen. It\u2019s that bad.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She said mosquitoes breed in standing water, which is in short supply in Niagara and much of the province.<\/span><\/p>\n

It means that we may not get the full story this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fewer mosquitoes out biting people is good news from a public health perspective. But, for researchers on the cutting-edge of research into Zika transmission and the mosquito vectors capable of spreading it, a shortage of the local pests is disappointing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research team had hoped to be testing thousands of mosquitoes a week throughout the summer, rather than dozens.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that we may not get the full story this year,\u201d Hunter said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So far this summer, Hunter and her team of graduate students have tested a half dozen species of mosquitoes caught locally. None of them can transmit the Zika virus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are 67 species of mosquitoes in Ontario and Brock\u2019s researchers continue to set weekly CDC light traps to catch as many as possible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe take those mosquitos back to the lab and try to feed them in the CL3 lab on infected blood,\u201d Hunter explained. Brock\u2019s CL3 lab with an insectary is the only one of its kind in a Canadian university.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Public Health Agency of Canada sent Brock two strains of the Zika virus, one from an outbreak in Thailand in 2013 and the other a sample from Puerto Rico\u2019s outbreak in 2016.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zika has gained notoriety, and spread fear across the Americas, since moving from Africa and French Polynesia to South America.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Brazil, the virus has caused a public health emergency and is being linked to an increase in Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome as well as a surge in the number of babies born with microcephaly \u2013 an abnormal smallness of the head.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In March, Hunter went to Brazil for a global summit focussed on the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito, which at the time was believed to be the main vector for the virus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But, Hunter said another genus (or classification) of mosquitoes is emerging as a potential vector as well.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt means\u00a0that Zika is not restricted to only one or two mosquito vectors, which we\u2019ve actually known all along because there were always over 20 mosquitoes that tested positive for Zika in\u00a0the\u00a0early literature from Africa. The idea of its being in this other Culex genus raises questions about how they are trying to control Zika in places like Brazil and even Florida,\u201d she said, noting breeding areas and habits can vary by genus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, a species also known to vector Zika, is found farther north in the U.S. than Aedes aegypti, which isn\u2019t found in Canada.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Hunter\u2019s students is specifically looking for the Asian tiger mosquito and its eggs in Niagara.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the perfect climate here for them,\u201d Hunter said.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said the species was found in Niagara more than a decade ago but hasn\u2019t established itself this far north.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the shortage of mosquitoes, Hunter and her team continue their research using colony mosquitoes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been able to confirm that Aedes aegypti can transmit the virus. We wanted to make sure we have a positive control. We\u2019ve successfully infected and seen transmission,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know that we can run these experiments.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter is still holding out hope for more mosquitoes, noting in a typical year the pesky insects can be caught until the end of October.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a frustrating summer for researchers working on the Zika virus in Brock University\u2019s CL3 lab. The drought blanketing much of Ontario is not only adversely impacting crops; it\u2019s also hurting mosquito populations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":39813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,41,1,5],"tags":[309,1356,4376,320,3773],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40528"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40530,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40528\/revisions\/40530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}