Zika, dengue fever and chikungunya: These are no longer just tropical diseases — in a few years, you may find them in your own backyard. Global warming is pushing such diseases, which were previously confined to the tropics, northward. Following these changing conditions are the couriers of disease: mosquitoes. These pests have a penchant for warm, wet weather and thrive in human-dominated habitats. Some species of mosquitoes are particularly suited to transmitting human viruses.
Given the events of the last few months, we are all acutely aware of just how damaging epidemics can be to our ways of life. Therefore, towns need to immediately implement policies to more aggressively control mosquito populations in order to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne tropical diseases that will only become more frequent in the United States as global temperatures increase.
In fact, tropical mosquito-borne diseases have already begun to enter the United States. In 2016 and 2017, multiple states reported local transmission of the Zika virus. We should be particularly scared of viruses like Zika, because they do not cause serious symptoms in adults, but cause serious malformations of fetuses. Adults who do not feel very ill are more likely to go outside and expose themselves to mosquitoes, which will pass the disease on to other adults.This could result in the harm of many fetuses by this virus if it is allowed to spread unchecked through the American populace. West Nile virus poses a similar threat and is currently the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States. The vast majority of those infected do not feel ill, however about 1 in 150 people will develop a serious, and sometimes fatal, illness. These two diseases have a relatively low death rate, but what happens when a disease that is much more serious inevitably makes its way into the American mosquito population? How do we protect ourselves from mosquito-borne tropical diseases?
There are measures homeowners can take to protect their community from mosquitoes. A small act that keeps mosquitoes at bay is eliminating standing water. Some species of mosquitoes can breed in pools of water as small as a bottle cap. This means birdbaths, buckets and Frisbees shouldn’t be left outdoors to collect rainwater, unless you want to invite mosquitoes to your home. Another simple way to repel these insects is to grow plants that naturally oppose them. Herbs such as basil, lavender, lemongrass, rosemary and lemon balm contain compounds that are highly toxic to several species of mosquito larvae. If you’re more into flowers, marigolds and common lantanas have similar compounds.
However, mosquito control cannot be solely left up to the individual; we need swift action from our state and local governments to mitigate the threat that climate change-driven mosquito diseases imminently pose. There are several movements across the globe that are controversially experimenting with genetically modified mosquitoes. With the knowledge that only female mosquitoes bite, the male mosquitoes are modified to carry a protein that will kill off any female offspring before they reach maturity. This experiment has seen success in the Cayman Islands in 2009, and more recently Brazil, reducing mosquito populations by over 92%. Environmentalists have warned that such eradication techniques could have unintended, adverse effects on the environment, yet in the 10 years since the initial experiment, the Caymans have yet to see any such effects.
In 2021, Florida plans to release 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes over a two-year period. Though this may seem like a drastic course of action now, it may just be the thing that prevents a mosquito-borne epidemic from wreaking havoc on our country. More towns should consider genetically modified mosquitoes as a possibility. If you could have prevented COVID-19 at the source, wouldn’t you have acted?
Eleanor Raab is a Menlo Park resident, and Elizabeth Nefferdorf lives in Warrenton, Virginia.
