Millions of mosquitoes to be released..

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Removing all mosquitos could be an ecological disaster, given they are the bottom of the food chain that ultimately reaches.....us. That said, they travel on the winds even more than we do, so eliminating disease carrying mosquitos in Florida may not last very long.

In the meantime, Deet. Deet works. It's available in 100% hand-spray bottles. The other insect repellants are classified as " Barbeque Sauce" by your local Anopheles quadrimaculatus and Anopheles freeborni.

As an aside, in Afghanistan, some folks took mefloquine to head off malaria. I hated it, because I'd get hallucinations and dizziness. One time, I fell on my face going to the outhouse at night, and landed nearly on top of one of those little red rocks they used there to mark unexploded land mines.

I started using 100% Deet after that. Someone told me, "You know that stuff causes cancer."

Avg life expectancy for a man in Afghanistan at the time was 48. I was 49.

Something's gonna get ya.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

if it works I hope they do noseeums next

I sure know how you feel about that!

My first season in Oz, we made entry in Gladstone, Qld. The next morning about dawn, I went up to the phone to call my daughter in the States. I felt really eager to talk with her, and while we were on the phone, I kept feeling these little sharp stings. I tried to ignore them and focus on my chat.

Wrong thing to do! Over the course of the next hours, all these little pink, raised itchy place arose on my body. Even Benedryl didn't help. I counted over 600 bites on my legs and arms, and my whole body swole up. What did help was ice. We stayed in the marina, and I iced myself frequently till the swelling went down.

I hate 'em! However, I discovered they can't bite through cloth, even gauzy cloth, like mozzies can. So i made some gauze pajamas so I could sleep at night, and bug juiced in the daytime and evening.

Ann

[GordMay]

World Mosquito Day 2021 [August 20]

The World Mosquito Day August 20th recognizes the date, in 1897, when Sir Ronald Ross made the breakthrough discovery [2] that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans.

Besides malaria, mosquitoes in the genera Anopheles, Aedes and Culex are also responsible for many other notorious vector-borne diseases: dengue, Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis, and lymphatic filariasis, to name a few.

Here’s a selection of recent research articles and reviews [1], published in Cell Press journals, this year so far, highlighting a variety of topics in mosquito research, from mosquito membrane dynamics to sex determination; from interactions with microbiota and pathogens to vector capacity; and from innovative research tools (RNAi), genetic access, metabolomics) to mosquito control methods (insecticidal nets and insecticide resistance).

[1] Articles ➥ https://www.cell.com/reviews/collections/mosquito-2021

[2] Sir Ronald Ross ➥ https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/ross.html

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

You've got to love that the Simpsons is the sense of reason 🙂

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

I know how you feel, but I can sure point to a couple of efforts to control species that haven't worked out as planned. (I'm thinking of the introduction of mixomatosis to control rabbits, and the importation of cane toads to control snakes. In brief, the population developed resistance to the virus; and over about 50 yrs., the snakes evolved to have smaller mouths, and are still a plague in the cane fields.)

It is the unintended consequences that are the problem. And I think it is a valid concern.

It might work out okay. Is that good enough? I kind of doubt it.

Ann

Hi Ann,

Not sure but I think the cane toads were introduced to control a cane beatle not snakes. Prior to the introduction of mechanical harvesters when cane was cut by hand the snakes were generally killed when they burned the tops of the standing cane before harvesting.

The good news on the cane toad front is that some of the native animals have discovered how to kill and eat them without becoming poisoned.

And myxametosis worked. Whilst it did not kill every rabbit it killed the great mass of them and they have never recovered to their pre myxo numbers. It was flee vectored and most of the ones which survived were members of very isolated communities.

The CSIRO also developed a cat flu which was to be used to get rid of the millions of feral cats which are predominately responsible for the vast reduction in small native animals. However they have never been allowed to introduce it because of the danger to domestic pets.

[OldManMirage]

As a native Floridian who has lived with mosquitos all my life, I can tell you DEET is not 100% effective. I have been in places with the skeeters so thick you practically breath them in.
Kill the little blood-suckers !

[dannc]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Hi Ann,

Not sure but I think the cane toads were introduced to control a cane beatle not snakes. ....

Yep, Cane Toads were introduced to South Florida to remove pests from sugar cane. Which they did not do. The Cane Toads just kill lots of dogs and cats and possibly wild carnivores. One of too many invasive plants and animals let loose in Florida.

The idea that people "take" the chemical from the back of the Cane Toads to get stoned is nuts. I never knew anyone to do it but people supposedly would lick the back of a Cane Toad to get high. Then I saw some TV show that said people in Australia would take road killed Cane Toads, which had dried out in the sun, and grind them up to get the chemical to get stoned.

Later,
Dan

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

I know how you feel, but I can sure point to a couple of efforts to control species that haven't worked out as planned. (I'm thinking of the introduction of mixomatosis to control rabbits, and the importation of cane toads to control snakes. In brief, the population developed resistance to the virus; and over about 50 yrs., the snakes evolved to have smaller mouths, and are still a plague in the cane fields.)

It is the unintended consequences that are the problem. And I think it is a valid concern.

It might work out okay. Is that good enough? I kind of doubt it.

Ann

I feel the same kind of caution against unintended consequences. But to me an intended consequence of mixomatosis, for example, would be that it killed wallabies in addition to rabbits or some other Ill effect that was worse than what it was supposed to do. Simply not killing all the rabbits was just a failure not an unintended consequence; no-one was worse off for having tried it. An unintended consequence would be the damage the rabbits are doing since they were purposely introduced without realizing they would take over the continent. Or the damage mongoose and cats do to native animals and birds when introduced to islands to control the rat population. If the mosquito effort just fails to control mosquitos I'd be fine with it. I'm more concerned about what happens to the plants and animals that depend on mosquitos.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by OldManMirage

As a native Floridian who has lived with mosquitos all my life, I can tell you DEET is not 100% effective. I have been in places with the skeeters so thick you practically breath them in.
Kill the little blood-suckers !

I have used one can of DEET that was pretty danged effective against mosquitoes. I have used DEET in the 'Glades which would not stop all of the mosquitoes which was shocking. However, this one can did stop them all. A guy I knew worked at one of the nuke power plants and they were issued DEET spray. The DEET spray from a nuke power plant kept the bugs away.

I think, and hope, that the spray worked because it was a higher concentration of DEET. Yep, that is what I am going with, I stopped glowing in the dark years ago.

I read stories of the settlers living in Florida, where there where CLOUDS of mosquitoes. The Indians would burn multiple fires so that the smoke would minimize the mosquitoes but they had to have something else to survive in those swamps. I don't know how they did it. Florida house used to be built with an entry room. The room had a door to the outside and a door to the inside. One would enter the room close the exterior door and then use a hand held broom to knock off the mosquitoes on ones body and clothes.

As a native Floridan, I never had to do that, but by the time I was born, so many of the swamps had been drained and chemicals were being sprayed. I don't know how people lived in some areas of the South. They were tough but died young.

Later,
Dan

[donradcliffe]

I must smell like steak to a female mosquito, because I will be the only one bitten in a crowd. I've had both dengue and malaria.

I say kill the devils children, even if there is some collateral damage.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

I feel the same kind of caution against unintended consequences. But to me an intended consequence of mixomatosis, for example, would be that it killed wallabies in addition to rabbits or some other Ill effect that was worse than what it was supposed to do. Simply not killing all the rabbits was just a failure not an unintended consequence; no-one was worse off for having tried it. An unintended consequence would be the damage the rabbits are doing since they were purposely introduced without realizing they would take over the continent. Or the damage mongoose and cats do to native animals and birds when introduced to islands to control the rat population. If the mosquito effort just fails to control mosquitos I'd be fine with it. I'm more concerned about what happens to the plants and animals that depend on mosquitos.

I recently saw an news report from Ireland from 30-40 years ago. The report was about one of the Irish islands that was being taken over by rabbits. The islanders where having to sell off livestock because there was not grass for them because the rabbits were eating it all. They showed a guy shooting the rabbits but you could tell, and he said it, that the rabbits could breed faster than he could kill them. Poison, traps and shooting did not work. Not sure a herd of foxes could have dented the rabbit population they had on that small island.

I believe the rabbits have been removed somehow. They mentioned introducing a virus or bacteria to kill the rabbits but they did not want to do so because it was a horrible death. My guess is they eventually had no choice and the rabbits are now gone.

Later,
Dan

[dannc]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I must smell like steak to a female mosquito, because I will be the only one bitten in a crowd. I've had both dengue and malaria.

I say kill the devils children, even if there is some collateral damage.

Ironically, I ran across an article about mosquitos today. I just skimmed it but they were genetically modifying mosquitos ability to see dark colors. Apparently, mosquitos are attracted to dark colors so removing their ability to see dark colors they won't be able to see their prey.

The take away for me was to wear light colored clothes.

Later,
Dan

[RaymondR]

If you look at it from a viewpoint of the mozzy, they still get the sex without the troublesome competition from younger horny generation of males and from our viewpoint we don't have to put up with a new generation biting us. Looks like a win, win situation to me.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

I must smell like steak to a female mosquito, because I will be the only one bitten in a crowd. I've had both dengue and malaria.

I say kill the devils children, even if there is some collateral damage.

It's strange isn't it. They leave me alone but love my wife. The sand fly's (I think they are no see ems in the US?) Love me but leave her alone. There must be something in that for the insect repellent manufactures ?

[rsn48]

Where are bats and dragon flies when you need them?