L iquird, .. You know it works.

Granule s. Yo u kn,ow it werks.

Pellets. You know it works.

BriqLJets. You know the drilL

Winter 1999

Editor-in-ChiefDennis Moore, Fort Myers, FLvoice: 941-694-2174fax: 941-694-6959e-mail: moore@lcmcd org

Associate EditorsCharlie Morris, Sarasota, FLStan Cope, Norfolk, VAJohn Gamble, New Smyrna Beach, FL

GraphicsAlan Curtis, Vero Beach, FLJames Newman, Vero Beach, FL

Column EditorsChemline - Doug Wassmer, Odessa, FLChip-Chat - Tom Floore, Panama City, FLCrankcase Eddie - Ed Meehan, Mound, MN

Regional EditorsMassachusetts - Timothy D Deschamps, NorwoodMichigan - Thomas R Wilmot, SanfordNew Jersey - William C Reinert, NorthfieldTexas - Dan Sprenger, Corpus ChristiUtah - Glenn Collett, Salt Lake City

Editorial Review BoardRichard Berry, Columbus, OHDavid Dame, Gainesville, FLGerry Hutney, Tampa, FLL Philip Lounibos, Vero Beach, FLRobert Lowrie, Covington, LAJoseph Ruff, Panama City, FLJohn J Smith, Norwood, MAJames Webb, Santa Ana, CA

Florida Mosquito Control AssociationFMCA President: Joseph Ruff, Panama City, FLe-mail: ruffj@doacs state fl us

Shelly Redovan, FMCA Executive DirectorPO Box 60837Fort Myers, FL 33906-0837voice: 941-694-2174; fax: 941-433-5684e-mail: redova@mail dms state fl us

American Mosquito Control AssociationAMCA President: Bill Zawicki, Freehold, NJe-mail: bzawicki@aol com

Marlene Comeaux, AMCA Business Manager2200 E Prien Lake RdLake Charles, LA 70601voice: 318-474-2723; fax: 318-478-9434e-mail: amcaintl@deltech net

Wing Beats: An official publication of the American Mosquito Control Association, published quarterly by theFlorida Mosquito Control Association This magazine is intended to keep all interested parties informed on mattersas they relate to mosquito control All rights reserved Reproduction, in whole or part, for educational purposes ispermitted, without permission, with proper citation The FMCA and the AMCA have not tested any of the productsadvertised or referred to in this publication, nor have they verified any of the statements made in any of theadvertisements or articles The FMCA and the AMCA do not warrant, expressly or implied, the fitness of any productadvertised or the suitability of any advice or statements contained herein Opinions expressed in this publication arenot necessarily the opinions or policies of the FMCA or the AMCA

Subscriptions: Wing Beats is sent free of charge to anyone within the continental United States Subscriptions areavailable for the cost of first class postage to any foreign address at the following rates: Europe, UK and AustraliaUS$20; Canada, US$6; South America US$10 Make checks and purchase orders payable to the Florida MosquitoControl Association and send to FMCA, PO Box 60837, Fort Myers, FL 33906-0837

Correspondence: Address all correspondence regarding Wing Beats to the Editor-in-Chief, Dennis Moore, PO Box60005, Fort Myers, FL, 33906 Readers are invited to submit articles related to mosquito and biting fly biology andcontrol, or letters to the Editors, to the Editor-in-Chief There is no charge if your article or letter is printedPhotographers and artists are invited to submit color transparencies, high quality original artwork or artwork inelectronic format for possible use in the magazine or on the cover; $100 will be paid for each cover photo Businessesare invited to place advertisements through the Editor-in-Chief

Volume 10, Number 4

About the Cover: Psorophora ferox flies off to clean the pollen stuck to her antenna. The photo was taken byMichael Patnaude, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Nematology at the University of Florida.

Wing BeatsPO Box 60005Fort Myers, FL 33906

15191 Homestead Rd

Lehigh, FL 33971

of the Florida Mosquito Control Association

www mosquito orgwww floridamosquito org

Chemline: EPA Mosquito Pesticide Stakeholder Meeting...............4by David Dame

Feature: Potency of B.t.i. Products: Helpful or Hypeful?.................8by Gary L. Benzon

From a Distance: The Dart - A New Approach to DengueFever Control....................................................................................16by Alistair Hart

Chip Chat: Educational Web Sites.........................................20by Tom Floore

Pest Asides: Orthopodomyia and the Fireplace...................25by Tom Moran

Position announcements...................................................24

.... •• • ....

For some time AMCA has been working with both Congress and federal regu­latory agencies to address public health needs related to pesticides. These efforts were rewarded by recogni­tion in the 1996 Food Qual­ity Protection Act of the sig­nificant differences in pesti­cide usage between public health and other users. To ensure that proposed modi­fications in public health pesticide usage are adequately reviewed, the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services is charged with the responsi­bility of participating in the review process with EPA.

In the current pesticide re-registration process, EPA has specifically addressed public health pesticides and has revised the risk assess­ment for 3 organophos­phates - fenthion (Baytex), naled (Dibrom) and temephos (Abate). To inform the public and to gather input from users, EPA called a stakeholders briefing to describe the methods used for the re­vised risk assessment and the findings. The meeting, held on October 13, 1999 in Orlando, was attended by in­terested parties from all over the nation. The statement that follows - presented at the end of the day - is a re­view of the discussions that took place at the stakehold­ers meeting.

4 Winter 1999 'klii«J &au

EPA Mosquito Pesticide Stakeholder Meeting

by 1)a()(d 1)~. AJ!t(!A 'P~-ded

Concluding Remarks to the EPA Special Review and Re-Registration Team

I would like to summarize the ma­jor comments heard from represen­tatives of the vector control commu­nity, industry, Department of De­fense, eleven states and the District of Columbia on October 13, 1999 at the US EPA fenthion, naled and temephos Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) stakeholders meeting in Orlando, FL.

It is important to understand that public health pesticides require due consideration from both EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since FQPA man­dates that the two agencies formally consult on the regulatory disposition of public health pesticides. Although HHS has not yet become a full part­ner in this activity, it must. The many critical data gaps that were evident today in the EPA worker, residential and ecological risk assessments will surely persist until HHS is fully involved, as required by the Act, and can oversee essential studies. The Registrants and other stakeholders are continually providing information and data updates, but it is not enough. Funding, now three years overdue, to provide the missing data must be requested from the Con­gressional appropriations committee byHHS.

It is also important to understand that the current public health insec­t icides were selected and have now been used for over 40 years (with very few adverse incidents) because they are safe and effective at appli­cation rates that have been demon­strated, by EPA-required preregistra­tion studies, to be environmentally acceptab le. These products re­placed the ch lorinated hydrocar-

bons, because of their favorable en­vironmental and public safety char­acteristics when used according to the label.

The formal presentations did not dwell on the benefits derived from the current organophosphate insecticide usage; therefore, it is important to mention some of them: 0 control of nuisance mosquitoes, allowing parts of the Unites States to be habitable; 0 reduced amounts of pesticide required per treatment versus prior years with the chlorinated hydrocar­bons; 0 reduced habitat exposure be­cause of a better understanding of the pest populations; 0 reduced usage due to adoption of alternative strategies as part of the IPM approach to vector control ; 0 alternation with pesticides with other modes of action to prevent in­secticide resistance; and, 0 prevent ion and control of arthropod-borne diseases in the USA and the rest of the world.

EPA needs to address this ben­efits side of the Risk/Benefit analy­sis equation. Even if fenthion, naled and temephos availability remains unchanged for public health usage throughout the FQPA process, pub­lic health and economic benefits analysis considerations will be nec­essary for other organophosphates and other classes of insecticides when they are similarly reviewed as required by the Act.

Changes in the ava ilabi lity of these products would have adverse impacts on national and global dis­ease control. Foreign governments often follow EPA's lead when select­ing products for intervention of the world's major arthropod-borne dis­eases - malaria, dengue, filariasis,

leishmaniasis, etc. Both malaria and dengue have been increasing in many tropical and subtropical coun­tries throughout the world. In the United States, we have imported malaria and dengue, often brought in by travelers and migrant workers from Latin America where malaria and dengue are common. This pro­vides daily potential for domesti c transmission because the vectors are present in the U.S. The recent West Nile encephalitis virus outbreak along the Eastern seaboard is a re­minder of our continued vulnerability.

FQPA distinguishes between ag­ricultural and public health pesticides and specif ies that they are to be treated separately in implementation of the Act. Application rates, acre­age, droplet spectra, frequency of application and drift concepts are markedly different. Models used to estimate impacts should input data that are relevant to public health usage, rather than rely on estimates derived from agricultural practices. It is reassuring that this is currently being done to a degree, but there continues to be a lack of good sci­entific documentation and field data to validate the risk assessment as­sumptions and conclusions based on these models and extrapolations.

EPA estimates based on formu­las and calculations determined with use of "conservative standards" in lieu of actual data should not be re­leased to the public. While it may be necessary for EPA to conduct calcu­lations in this manner due to FQPA mandates and time frames, very con­servative risk estimates derived from models and extrapolations can bias publ ic perception of interim EPA safety conclusions by putting the pesticides in the worst case risk sce­nario even though scientific data are not available to validate the assump­tions and the models and to verify the estimates. Recently released EPA guidelines to the general public that recommend closing up homes, shutting off air conditioners and washing items left outdoors during mosquito sprayings have aroused concern and energized stakeholder protest. Public releases of this na­ture, based on misinterpretation or

lack of existing data, create a public perception that the EPA-registered products are less safe than may be the case, perhaps by a very wide margin, and give rise to credibility problems for both the registrant and the vector control community - not to mention the probability of unnec­essary public anxiety and alarm.

We, as a nation, recognize the need to reduce both vector-borne diseases and the public health and economic impacts of pest arthropods. Without organophos­phates, these objectives can not be assured . Registered materials from as many classes of insecticides as possible are required in order to con­tinue to have the capability to rotate pesticides with different modes of action in order to forestall and pre­vent the onset of insecticide resis­tance. Failure to do so will severely weaken the protection from both nui­sance and vector arthropods.

Industry requires a profit to func­tion. Public health usage in most cases does not provide sufficient revenue to cover research and de­velopment costs, registration and marketing costs and still turn a profit for insecti cides used in mosquito control. For a public health pesti­cide to remain registered, most reg­istrants must make enough money on other registered uses of the prod­uct to justify keeping it on the mar­ket. This is a fundamental economic consideration and leads to the con­clusion that agricultu ral and other uses need to be continued to main­tain profitable product economics so that these pesticides will remain avail­able for public health uses.

The above comments summarize for the most part what the stakehold­ers presented on October 13th. We value this FQPA technical meeting and similar forums as avenues to express concerns about the contin­ued use of public health pesticides. We recognize the need to preserve not just fenth ion, naled and temephos, which represent about one-third of the currently available major mosquito control adulticides and larvicides, but all classes of in­secticides that are safe and effec­tive. Such action will help to ensure

that different modes of action are available for the management of in­secticide susceptibility and the pre­vention of insecticide resistance, and that industry will keep these products on the market for public health use. These objectives will be increasingly difficult to reach without the commit­ment of HHS to oversee a program for fi lling the critical data gaps.

This exercise has been very posi­tive. The EPA team effectively dem­onstrated the methods and objec­tives of the Risk Analysis process. Members of the vector control com­munity and industry offered a con­siderable amount of new relevant in­formation and existing data to help fi ll data gaps - and promised more. The AMCA has provided, and con­tinues to volunteer, technical and field experience and assistance to the EPA for its risk assessments and communications to the public regard­ing mosquitoes, the diseases they transmit and the insecticides and IPM used in their suppression. The dia­logue is meaningful and forthright and the AMCA urges participants to fol­low through on their offers and to continue the dialogue. We strongly encourage t hose who are not present to respond to EPA's request for data and information to f ill the data gaps by contacting the individu­als listed below. You can review the EPA position on these chemicals on the EPA website at <http :// www. epa . gov / oppsrrd 1 / o p / status.htm>.

To provide data, determine inves­tigative need or obtain information from EPA- Contact:

Beth Edwards [fenthion] (703) 305-5400 edwards.beth@epa.gov

Tom Myers [naled] (703) 208-8589 myers.tom@epa.gov

Margaret Rice [temephos] (703) 308-8039 rice . margaret@epa .gov

r David Dame is the AMCA President-elect dadame@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu " ...,

Winter 1999 5

Come to New Jersey -AMCA 2000 Meeting March 12 - 16, 2000

Bally's Park Place, Atlantic City, NJ

0 Archival Display - Presenting 100 years of organized mosquito control

0 West Nile Virus - Latest News

0 Insect Photographic Workshops

0 Water Management Presentations

0 Aedes j aponicus update - Our newest mosquito

0 Encephalitis 1999

0 Management of Larval Resistance

0 Tenth Latin American Session

0 Biology, Behavior, Physiology

0 Silent Auction for Scholarship Funding

For Program and Registration Information www.mosquito.org or call the AMCA Central Office

(318) 474 - 2723

From the Editor

We are looking for interesting technical or field-related articles about mosquitoes, mosquito con­trol and related topics. The articles do not have to be "scientific" in na­ture and are usually not too long- usu­ally a page or two.

A considerable amount of applied research, equipment modifications, application technique alterations, along with other opera­tional advancements are being conducted at mosquito programs, universities and military installations throughout the world. Much of this information is publishable but perhaps not in a refereed journal. We encourage you to consider publishing in Wing Beats.

Contact information is listed on the top of page 3.

Clarke Mosquito Controi ,Products, n~o~w offering

The all-electric spr.ayers that ~after

a qulet alter;natille. can 1 ~aoo,:.323-&7--2'1 or63'0•894--200 e to~r campl'ete pr~uc.l i lformB;tfon~

~Clarke- Mosquito Control Products, Inc. 1~9: Ga ro eh A~nur' • R,}>Jtlll lL V.O t 12 email ei:>Jr.,. e ~ ~ffl~tLI'l"ltl.l ~m .wb •NI'I'ri _, to!lttultt'l ~r w

6 Winter 1999 1(1~ 2i'ea.u

To protect childTen ...

You have to be Tough on Adults.

tJ·I! ('111'1 '"tlJTfl.l!!l , ,,. <(t 01"0 II

'''" ,, 1!1 1 •! '1!l'L,.,n~.thr-prh·l l!l:llilt !f!'m" \'\' "":"1''"10!f11J ill~~

tlt11' why •·VJ'.AN\IN1 \Jt:V

! t--e• i.Jt\IW\ fl!,.l j!J~Un ~111!

for!lirr!IIJTI\1. F ""11•1 'PI l!iiUJI \n If \'I ~·~l lll.l I!\' t'+i"" ' ;, tl 1!..-tr •IIUoiM 111 l*ll!ltt

•hr •-r-.tlall!u!U "' l.l!:lll , !nr .hi.· 1\.,-v.lrrfmm~ <il"\l!t+ '"' t+'

P'"''l I! •111111 •I ~~ 11d'!J,I!!Il!.

Uul uul.!.l•.U!!II

j-!l:r 1.;-trt:TIII ! oil FVFANON"' ULV

(!I CHEMINOVA

'"II' I I ..::l,"; t"if1K.

o\IJ oi l~ .111.711 ',\1Uft

ms~nc:we

1 I Ill 1.- j...ll i l t~o ,j\.:_ fll,l\ti'.Jtll'ti'•'IJ'•

l.lt\1'1\' liilJ lf'.:\_~j h!i:Jo j!l•lil \ lf/i\C'!I

r...:t ftttm.illli', f\l!AS•-~f • 'l·'•

Chnmi~e>~a.lnc,, 1700 ~()• tlu 2l.l ~Jtt.: ~ IQ, W;iynfJ N'O'<'f fg,~ei' UN't\•

...... -..&.&J,- '

1' 111 ltlllht•r tj'li('>I:~I UJ~I n1q~::1 ""1' 1 l.•t-.11 •ll:illii;IJI•'I"

oil' 'ru l) I t~ll\1 -j..fti_:-N U

HII o H '" "

During gold rush days, buyers of gold offered up by miners would use the extraordinary density of the metal to determine its purity, and therefore its potential value. The simple weight-to-volume ratio pro­vided a reasonably accurate assay of purity. Oh, that assays would always be so simple.

Today, more sophist icated physico-chemical methods are used for assaying gold and more complex substances. Modern labo­ratory instrumentation practically allows one to inject a chemical cocktail onto one end, while the other end spits out identities and concentrations. In mosquito control we are familiar with biochemical and immunological assays for detecting the identity and concen­tration of even more complex proteinacious materials such as antibodies and viruses.

But what if the value of a sub­stance depends on factors more complex than the raw concentra­tions of certain molecules? A protein can consist of an im­mensely long chain, or multiple chains, of amino acids that must be folded and bound upon them­selves precisely or the protein may not act as expected. Most assays will not detect the difference be­tween an active and inactive form of the same protein. Such is the case with the toxic proteins that make microbial pesticide products such as Bacillus thuringiensis effec­tive against insects. But here the picture is even more complex since spores or other cellular components may be involved. Early in the his­tory of B. t. products, spore counts alone were used for standardization with poor results.

8 Winter 1999 'U/"'9 &au

Enter the bioassay- the use of living organisms to evaluate a sub­stance. In the case of B.t. products, the typical bioassay does not mea­sure the concentration of anything in particular, but rather evaluates overall potency, or raw killing power against the intended target.

The Basic Insecticide Bioassay Usually by dosing the insects as

directly as possible, a bioassay avoids most of the factors such as formulation, application method, or­ganic matter, and palatability that might influence how much toxicant gets to the insect. With chemical contact insecticides, this may mean

Fig. 1

applying microliter sized droplets di­rectly to individual insects with a microapplicator, or more appropri­ately with mosquito larvae, placing them in clean water contain ing known concentrations of the mate­rial. With stomach poisons (and I am including B.t. in this class), one may force-feed individual insects with known quantities or allow them to feed on laboratory diet contain­ing known concentrations of the toxicant.

With most toxicants, there is a regular relationship between the toxicant dose and the percentage

of insects that are affected. No sur­prise there.

The characteristics of the rela­tionship for any given toxicant and insect species can be learned by dosing groups of the insects with different amounts of the toxicant to develop a dose-response curve. An ideal dose-response curve for a hy­pothet ical B.t. i. product against Aedes aegypti is shown in Fig. 1. Here, all doses (or more properly, concentrations) below 0.4 mg /ml killed no larvae. All concentrations above 1.4 mg/ml killed all of the lar­vae. In between these two concen­trations , the response curve is roughly S-shaped or sigmoidal.

Somewhere along the curve, even if one of our concentrations did not hit it exactly, is the concentration that will kill 50% of the test insects. This is the "LC

50." In our example,

the LC50 is approximately 0.77 mg/ mi. For better or for worse, we of­ten pick this point to use in judg­ing potency of B.t. products.

But here is a complication, especially with B.t. products. Many factors other than genetics can effect how susceptible a group of

insects is to B.t. , such as age and stage, nutritional status, immediate "hunger" level, and conditions dur­ing rearing. No matter how hard any investigator tries to standardize con­ditions, he will get different results on different days. This is why every B.t . bioassay must include the simultaneous bioassay of a refer­ence standard against the same group of test insects. A reference standard is a preparation of the same type of B. t. with an established potency. We make the assumption that the LD50 of the unknown B. t. and the reference standard B.t. will vary

together and by the same magni­tude. If we take the ratio of LD

50's of

the standard and the unknown, then multiply the result by the potency of the standard, we obtain the potency of the unknown, corrected for the susceptibility of the tests insects on that particular day.

ratory-reared Aedes aegypti are used. In our lab, we use three 100 ml cups each containing 20 larvae, for each of 6 concentrations of a B.t.i. product. After 24 hours at 27°C, the number of larvae left alive are counted and subtracted from the starting number. Counting dead lar­vae is not reliable since remaining healthy larvae will often eat those that are dead or dying (and you thought mosquito larvae are strictly fi lter feeders).

swimming pool, but only if the pow­der is properly homogenized. B.t.i. cells in a powder tend to be clumped together in aggregates. The degree to which these clumps are broken up, and the resultant change in par­ticle size, will affect the results. How­ever, overly zealous homogeniza-

Bioassay of B.t.i products

There is a fairly well established U.S. standard method for determin­ing the potency of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (B.t. i.) products against mosquito larvae, by agreement between a cadre of B.t.i. producers and government labs (see McLaughlin et al, 1984 ). A very similar method was estab­lished by W.H.O. cooperating with the Pasteur Institute. Pasteur also provides the International Reference Standard IPS-82 with the assigned potency of 15,000 International Toxic Units (ITU's) per milligram. Due to the very small amounts of IPS-82 available, most labs develop their own internal standard that they calibrate against IPS-82 through re­peated bioassays.

With a lot of care and a little luck, the six con­centrations will all result in from 5% to 95% mor­tality and will form a clean dose-mortality curve similar to that in our example. By feed­ing our raw dose-mor­tality data into an arcane statistical procedure known as probit analy­sis, we can obtain esti­mates of the LD

50 (or

4th instar Aedes aegypti larvae are counted and placed 20 to a cup.

Force feeding a mosquito larva is a bit too challenging. Instead, we allow groups of larvae to swim freely in cups of clean water containing known concentrations of B.t. i. prod­uct. For standardization purposes, late 3 rd and/or early 41h instar labo-

-

LC50

in our case), slope of the re­gression line, and other information, some of which can tell us how much confidence we should have in the es­timates. By replicating this whole pro­cess at least 3 times with consistent technique, it is possible make quite accurate determinations of potency.

Complications and pitfalls

There are myriad ways to foul up a bioassay. Some of these will produce nice clean and consis­tent numbers that just happen to be way off base.

Proper prepa­ration of the B.t. i. suspensions is critical. With a ma­terial as potent as IPS-82, the LC

50 is

Prior to bioassay, stock suspensions are made from various formulations of B.t.i.

equivalent to a tea­spoonful in an olympic-size

tion can destroy the activity alto­gether.

With coated granules, such as the popular corncob formulations, the B.t.i technical powder must be carefully washed off of the granules before the bioassay begins. A de­tergent is usually needed to break up the mineral oil that is used as a sticker, but some detergents will also destroy B.t.i. activity.

The standard bioassay methods have little to say about how larvae are reared in preparation for testing. Recent studies have shown that the amount and quality offood provided, and thus the amount of time it takes larvae to reach the 41h instar, can affect bioassay results more than rearing temperature, lighting re­gimes, or even the stage that is used. (Skovmand et al. 1998).

When a bioassay is read, what constitutes "dead"? Some laborato­ries include larvae that are "nearly dead", thus allowing individual inter­pretation to creep in. This can have a noticeable affect on results. A more clear cut definition of "dead"

continued on page 12

Winter 1999 9

•

We wort a1 rnalntal!'ing our surwco at tne nighesl levol poss1bl~ b~~u~:>a wo truly ~I eve our CtJStomcrs Are the moot•mponant part or our busaness U's reallyqulto s1mpte no ~u.stornorr:. .. no Dusines~l

Th~ pes. I .citieS .,.,o,e. distribute are SI.IPf!lieQ dlrec1ty fc<Jm 1.1"19 baSIC manufacturers wtKt ac&~ to th6 h(ghes1 standards of quality. Th~ equlpn'lent that we offer I$ constarltly ~ ~~ throtJgl'l tQSQaxch and deove!opmMI focusing on the appltcaticin of the &al&8t rochndogy fo mee1 tt\l}'ehangin!l re-qutremems of the mark~

We want to than'k a I wno value our pro,fes:slot~sro~4.La@.~.~ and ~er\i"lCC. Our goal is to oatHtoue to be "'"""'"'"'"'

f1Jfti1bfn n~um lfw.TII surpasses' ,.. tMf.JJ fiOl:liU:

fbtzfl rlt'~ln 36IJ rlt.'Qtll~,

I:!JfilrmQ!I; "'

tBIIP, OrtltiUJifd w/rJI)~ W~/11 cy/JndD, lfJS engfne wltlr lhrortle dawn l~atJ.m:

REMOTE CAB CONTROL FEATURES

E U::r = . 0\';':! "'

••• ~, ..,.1'1ll ~"--tt· .

OPTIONS r.r~os;rt= ~~ 'r d•)!H~11t "' ,. •Pfz r S.~•J CV. r~t.t'I1Sidfr.;! r IW r1111t1r~ SI<JJI:.<;o/ !:11~"'1 II' ,'lffllt' ~~~

. , NEW DESIGN

. , NEW V.SELT DRIUE

• NEW llfROTil.E DDWN

1\w~u...~rs of~ ~ I• J 00~ r:i1ntiTJI fCiu "It !if.~ ; S68 505 BriltU\afi ~_nue • P..O.. ~ 4DS lDng UJ.'ke (t&nneapo! 1. M'-' &5~56 lt~formnlior1 61241'3-5368 f S12..il13-5-~D2 Or-der ne S0044&a52'5 Emttll lu.odcnfng(fi>t.J~in'tern~L~nm

continued from page 9 is complete lack of movement even when touched w ith a probe.

Finally, you may have the most accurate bioassay in the world, and the results still may not relate well to field efficacy. As I mentioned be­fore , the bioassay is designed to exclude those factors that must be considered in the field , such as for­mulation, application method, active ingredient release rate, habitat, or­ganic matter, target species density, susceptibility and behavior.

What do the results mean then? If there are all these po­

tential problems with bioas­says, then why bother? In the end, bioassays are extremely useful for some purposes and not for others. On the useful side:

1. Process optimiza­tion. To make a profit, pro­ducers must get as much po­tency as they can out of the fermentation process. They will continually tweak the pro­cess and evaluate the po­tency of the resulting broths w ith bioassays.

storage. The typical 200 ITU corn­cob granule may leave the plant with a potency of 220 ITU/mg or above. The typical1200 ITU aqueous sus­pension is often 1400 ITU/mg to start.

3. Storage stability. Though products may leave the plant within specifications, microbials can be fragile beasts. Label directions to "Store in cool , dry place" are there for a reason. Store the products in a hot metal shed in the middle of summer and potency can degrade rather quickly. EPA requires produc-

that is under spec by 25% than one that is over by 25%. Reputable pro­ducers will provide material with po­tency in the right ballpark, but a user should pay much more attention to recommended application rates tempered by experience with the unique situations that are encoun­tered in his or her district. Nothing can substitute for field expertise.

References cited :

Mclaughlin, R.E., H.T. Dulmage, R. Ails , T.L. Couch , D.A. Dame, I.M. Hall , R.I. Rose, and P.L. Versoi. 1984. U.S. standard bioassay for the potency as­sessment of Bacillus thuringiensis Serotype H-14 against mosquito larvae. Bull. Entomol. Soc. Am. 30: 26-29.

Skovmand, 0., I. Thiery, G.L. Benzon, G. Sinegre, N. Monteny, and N. Becker. 1998. Potency of products based on BacH~s thuringiensis var.

2. Quality control. Usually, the producer will test material for potency at sev­eral stages in the manufac­turing process, starting with

Cups containing larvae are dosed with precise amounts of the stock suspensions. Notice that the suspensions are kept constantly agitated on a stir plate to prevent set­tl ing out of the B.t.i. particles.

israeliensis: Interlaboratory variations. J. Am. Mosq. Control Assoc. 14(3): 298-304.

the fermentation broth. The potency will be used to determine how much it must be concentrated to produce useable formulations. The concen­trates produced from broths are of­ten bioassayed to insure that the potency is as expected. Finally, some finished formulations are bio­assayed to make sure that some­thing wasn't lost in the process. For instance, the process of coating corncob granules usually results in loss of some B.t.i. powder that sticks to the mixing equipment. The powder itself may be less potent than expected due, for instance, to excessive heat during the spray dry­ing process. Producers shoot high, not just to account for these losses, but to make up for changes that might take place during shipping and

12 Winter 1999 'Uiii«J &au

ers to examine storage stability un­der a variety of conditions and for varying lengths of time. Bioassays are used for this purpose. What if your district has 50,000 lbs of gran­ules left over from last season, and they were not kept "cool and dry"? You would do well to have them bio­assayed before use.

And now for the not so useful side ...

Out in the field, where the situa­t ion gets down and dirty for all of those reasons that were mentioned above, precise potency becomes far less important than the skill and experience of the user. Under op­erational use, even experts would be hard-pressed to notice a differ­ence in efficacy between a material

Gary Benzon is owner of Benzon Research in Carlisle, PA. He performs bioassays for many compa­nies as well as other labora­tory and field testing of public health pesticides and repellents.

Benzon Research 208 Burnt House Road Carlisle, PA 17013 Phone: 717-258-1183 Fax: 717-258-1195 e-mail: gbenzon@aol.com

lntrodiJcing the newest line of quallty ULV

applicalion equipment designed and manuftactured by speciaJists whh over 50

years experience. The 800 MD rr~ and the 1800 KD lra Phoenix Foggers are

slate-of-the-art ULv·aerosol generators

-englne~red lo provide durability, ease of

-operallon and ir'lCfeased versatility. Powered

by technologically advanced Honda engines, Phoenix Foggers ~r.e easy-to-start and offer

optimum performance and dependabilily.

Phoenix •s commil1ed to take mosqujta

centro~ professionals Into the 21 s1 century

with advanced produCt developmem and

unsurpassed ~u:stom.er support serv1ces.

FEATURES • Technologically Advanced Honda Engines

• SlGeJ Channel Construction w1th Durable, Chemicai-Resi~t~nt, Powder-Goat Finish

• VortJcaJ Nozzle for Maximum Performance

• Posltlve DISplacement Rotary l-obs Slower

• Engme and Blower Isolated to Provide Vlbratlon~Fres Performance

• Remote Cab Control with Ignition On/ Off, Eng1ne Start, Fog I Flush: and. Eng!M .C11ol<e (Mo.clel 1800 HO only}

• 15 Gallon Pour-Clean Poly Tank

· Designed lor Easy Mounting on Vehtcle

· lulllted 2 Year Warranty Th~ Power to Perform lM

i0539 f\1\:aybank Dr. • Dallas, Texas 7-5220 (800) 345~9387 or (214) 357-574"'1

ENVIRO MENTALLY COMPATIBLE MOSQUITO CONTROL PR·ODUCTS

~ ;\lro~ id® Di!Otnln.ltvr Utll1~ \\ ·~~, tmi,l tiL'dt ZJ~cU tu th.: m~1:·4Wto <:mU rvl iJ,JII::.tJ) ,

.u....:.:...~rm .. s \ I ~ r'< 'S ifJt!U I\. I I . ·~H<· :!tl U~LQI IF.TS.PEU.El'S

Al."\.11XN IJRtf.1t , ~L1\

"'ml\rt.ALTd.siO~XIRG Ul~ ~i\1 LP J)lt)\}ll) I II L " tt\' l( 'I I )1 \\ I 'ttl 11101.), \(. .~

1\1 J0!-.11• \I I •r£J.C'MR®m•.El Ut t Wll ll '-: 1 t•NH·..,'It·() 'o.:l'i)[( t3'l-,

U)L If .:l'L t: I Dl•:.':i .'&i\ \ ' U .• 16f ~~1 & 1 11 ~.111' v,:m I St MITH I~ IN

lll()~'OST® .. h iS.-li;U,12l(J1l & 3 '1 :t:;.f) WITII l'fr~~IF'IIiftlr-.

EQOIP<\JF:NT f1 m ' l 'h n i\118 -\' l UH.161 r'F.'~'TI C":tDF: ,\J1f'JJC \lOR A1Ul0·<3-U •r,. GRr\N r ~ ·\R Ar·~l Tr,\Tt lr(.S ft.l)1l l:.A,' IJON Al. ffiA.r:-:JI\0 A~u $.L tf'PUWi :-tAl:illTl' F.Qt 11r~ IEJ\T LlGEl'r I R J>S & \lOSQ UI'I 0 St. tt VJ~ \ roo I·.:';

ZANlJ.S CORJ>tm .o\.TJO.X'~ 1151J CL CAMJNO•REAL SlJ LTE 13-t \-t l :t-H .<J PA HI<,. C -\ IJ4Ul~ :tvu-:l..J ,.,~ •• 'h\:\ ~>)II Jh"S · "'" ';~ ... - tll.Ul ZA.'tl•.iCOI ~ .\1.!; '\o ,C\)M; w ... ..,, ,.,. \\'\\- l.\,...l,h 1 :tJ·'-1

1ng your pe • f t •

1n. 'tltll• AGNIQUE'" MMF lh.:Jt'!t ttn:: om"'L Anr.c- mo/{)CUic I •d ilppt t llJOr'l 111 "11 ~ l1 :xl~_;!l.i<f:tiJfe ~·1 1TICP 1t.1111~ a I ld<t=;.. I()! t.;:tT!aT.<i:l~.e ~·.llt!. AGN1QUE MMF 1c.r [rJYic it.t plc.• • :;lf'ld

fTIC'>I 1'10n filfOillf , .". ,fd t:t 1

lotbJ:.J;'ff ft

w.> • .m Dll!! Q .,.,1r PIL'Cid=> to Wli-:'11

CrB.'It n I il b.,m, r th.:.t Or>IJfW~S

tl~~~~ 1 I IJ 1.-.t\l.;r:l ~ncJ ~ "'1).1~ D

•111 ii AGNIQU£" MMF ,,,.;.t 't spa;-.: yc•ur f!'lil"IXh',er ·co · n 11

ll!ltnl'IYlble :;pread1rjg a_-uo1

i 10 lo• •• dr'Sc-l(ll:: 1 ;;~-: ru~d.-

mor\. treal-q ;:11-:rt'::; 'Nilt '!{', ·r.-~r

tiiC:rl· •t;.; · ~ 1\rtd H1~ •.onl:ol lu~r'!. up I o 1 Vv\"t v.. M~~. c; m V..'):.

,von't haw~ to reacpl',' as o-:t~;;r r1~ .)I IJ, ,, In" 'tt.:•~le~

For mur.:- trtc·matlwn •IY •rt •' r

rlf'ltnb•Jt 11 V,111 ~\~; t• .B. P.~e , m 800.888·4V\IIJR (1, r.n , "I

o'J· "eb:::,te Jl

.'IIW\N m.GS.OWtOnun COll i

8 AGNIC)U£: • MMF

LARVlCfDE AND PUPfCIDE

De DART..., A Rev ~h to~ f'evelf ~

Historical Perspective One of the mainstays of the north

Queensland (NQ) economy is the many tourists coming to our shores for a bit of R & R (not recuperation & rehydration!). Whilst tourism is quite a strong influence in the re­gional economy, it brings with it sev­eral prices. One of them is an oc­casional dengue virus incursion. Every year, there are on average 1 0-15 direct importations of dengue into NQ. Not only does this threaten tourism, it also puts the local popu­lation at risk because the primary dengue vector, Aedes aegyptiis very common in NQ.

Under the State Health Depart­ment (Qid Health) legislation, local governments are directly respon­sible for all facets of mosquito con­trol. This includes controlling out­breaks and responding to notifica­tions of dengue from Qld Health. In practice, however, Qld Health Medi­cal Entomology and Environmental Health staff provide year round tech­nical assistance and, during out­breaks, labor to assist with vector control work.

In NQ over the last 7 years, we have experienced several large out­breaks of dengue in 2 of the 3 ma­jor urban centers (Cairns & Townsville) and also in the Torres Strait Islands, an island group off the

by~~Mt

prolonged outbreak. These condi­t ions made the existing resources untenable in the context of future dengue outbreak situations.

Following over 6 months of con­tinued transmission during our lat-

northernmost tip of Aus­tralia. If you read the Spring 1998 issue of Wing Beats, you are probably aware that our most current outbreak in Cairns featured both Den2 and Den3! There were 498 confirmed cases of Den3 at its con­clusion (June 1999) with only approximately 14 cases of Den2. As a re­sult, NQ areas recently having dengue ou t­breaks are considered

The DART taking it easy following the outbreak, with enigmatic leader, Dr. Scott Ritchie.

to be 'primed' for an outbreak with potential dengue haemorrhagic fe­ver (DHF) cases. Interestingly, the State Government pathology labs reported that 20% of the confirmed cases during this outbreak had prior exposure to dengue virus.

Limited opportunity and access

est outbreak, local and state gov­ernment staff were "burnt-out" and frustrated that even during the dry season, transmission had not been stopped.

The response of Qld Health was to formulate a proposal for a 'Den­gue Action Response Team' (DART). This would be a small, well trained, mosquito control team that could be rapidly deployed anywhere within the Tropical Public Health Unit Network (TPHUN) Zone. The DART would be led by the colorful TPHUN Medical Entomologist, Dr. Scott Ritchie.

Nearly 12 months after the Cairns Den-3 outbreak began, Dr Ritchie took delivery of his precious new cargo. Following training in mosquito biology, ID and control, the DART was set loose on the out­break.

for interior spraying (through unfounded pesticide fears and people not at home) compounded the fact that if only a few key breeding sites were missed, this outbreak would continue. It then be­came apparent that the State and Local government staff responsible was in­adequate to cope

Comparison of dengue victim's rash and well person's arm. with a large-scale or

continued on page 18

16 Winter 1999 'kli~f9 &au

rlfl1!t}L!114Lhu~ ll.l;;OO_{, c:.t00WD

m:.umn:au~ CBiiZJf.Mt9i_$,t{:a

continued from page 16

Current Situation Our containment strategy in­

cludes attending every premise within approximately 1 00 meters of the case house and, with permis­sion, applying a synthetic pyrethrin surface spray to indoor surfaces that are likely to act as mosquito harborages (we also spray sheds and other likely out­door hiding spots for Ae. aegypt1). As we spray, we also perform source reduc­tion within 200 meters of the case house. We re­move active breeding sites and treat other potential sites w ith residual S­methoprene pellets, whilst educating the householders on how to protect their fam-ily from dengue.

Frequently ( -45% of the time) we couldn't access houses as no one was home. To counter this problem, we created an "Urgent Health Warning" doorknob hanger for the front door. In addition to the warning message, it contained in­formation on how to control mos­quitoes and protect yourself from bites. We also labeled the doorknob hanger with our mobile phone num­ber, asking the homeowner to call us and arrange for an appointment to carry out the above inspections/ spraying.

I t

We had a lot of breeding sites to locate. The World Health Organi­zation (WHO) states, 'a dengue outbreak requires only 5 breeding sites for Aedes aegypti per 1 00

scription, preventing future out­breaks.

Among the work required to do this, educating Local Government Environmental Health Officers

Treating under the table with a residual pyre­throid (Lamdacyhalothrin) to control Ae. aegypti.

(EHOs) on appropriate den­gue vector control is para­mount.. Th is education is carried out by the DART that organize visits to local shires and provide relevant back­ground information. They also conduct property in­spections with EHOs, iden­tifying likely breeding spots and providing them with an opportunity to practice deal­ing with homeowners. Other work includes performing timely property inspections on 'high risk' properties (in­cluding Backpacker hostels and adjoining properties) to

households to sustain itself. Breed­ing sites per 1 00 households are fre­quently 3 or 4 times this level and in the last Cairns outbreak we had pre­mises with up to 18 breeding sites.

As the dengue timeline (Figure 1) illustrates, Den-3 took roughly 16 weeks to die out following DART's intervention. It has now been 12 weeks since our final Dengue Case Report notification from the Center for Disease Control and my residual hangover from last night's celebra­tion bears witness to the fact that

lower the immediate risk of local transmission. Similar to an outbreak situation, a thorough in­spection is carried out, breeding sources dealt with and attempts are made at educating non-compliant homeowners.

Dengue timeline

Furthermore, research work re­lating directly to dengue vector con­trol and public relations i.e., with school kids are also carried out. One project maps the extent of the latest Den-3 outbreak using a Geo­graphical Information Systems (GIS) for analysis. We also main­tain a mappable database of vector control work, insecticides used (by date and place -to help us manage insecticide resistance), dengue cases and persistent 'breeders' for reference. Other projects include determining residual activity levels of preferred insecticides on Aedes aegyptiwhen applied to a variety of household materials and resistance trials for synthetic pyrethrins on Aedes aegypti. ~

Whilst this form of dengue con­tainment is very labor intensive, es­pecially considering the tropical sun and humidity, a sense of humor, coupled with steel capped boots for the nasty dogs kept spirits high.

18 Winter 1999 'kli~f9 &au

Australia is, once again, free from Dengue - at least for a while any­way ...

Far from doing themselves out of a job, the DART now has to face the larger portion of their position de-

Alistair Hart is with the Tropical Public Health Unit (Cairns), PO Box 1103, CAIRNS QLD, AUSTRALIA 4870 alistair_hart@health.qld.gov.au

From 1l h:t an wat-er ,., h•t:hh mg:"'' "'"'•Jror \ 'cd..Jw ... i!141 \'L~jt~(..J.r l .!!I~. y~ ill I"- - ..:~l ~.J\ lit .... illlit il ;• l•Jv ... ttJ .; I~ II lint"' IIIli t! tlllr • l,tl\ ill.

Vc.I111JUI '' ~·· 11 I''"'' l.'h, •t .. r loJr • .t~ •~·ll~• •lh•l." ~ \ntnll Ill u IL)~(rlll l a tL"- ~.1r (ll thr Ill '<ul.!!l:)li:u.. altll! lu!.•ltal'lol ljlt.!lt l' Rta 111 lilt" mnri:::L tf ul"it llic' I[J[J?j d]~a."ll\'1: WI¢ ve, lnf.hJ.­\'• IJI ,, ~~.,: rr-~" I j ... ~I 1111 1!>1 l )~l!Tfl.'Jh!a..'h .,, w· ·trph··--trllJ'

:s~·u .. _p. ~· -rj ' o :·, I~ Nro :s.- q·Jii t ,.o e o,~n~·t r.:&~T ·.l t o,l.. E·:ajc li. \ ·:E1x:-J. · t\:·~ · nf~c ·And 'E:-v e:-~r y· r--li. :Ln·~g · 1 :-n J~:~e :t':w e~e -n -~

For t tou.gher situati ·oos .Jhr.l cc~\~Lu.,t1 'lllrb"l 111 r-:t~~Utl tte"Co, 1 rrr-11 '" \'c..!ut~·:-. IL" :~< ti\'l'"

l ll("rPtfiiLr'tf 1ktq)l(n ~i•trm rrnu ll.lt. II! ' IIIII 'Ili'' I'' <)j'li'1 f~

•I 1...:-1".1~ .dt[.;• 1 h tliltf!,l nii•IL!Wl • t .. r..<.! P• ., up I• I 4 \•c~·A. ., \ I U1 111~111\' l•~~-tltrtc •'II ' i• Liii1IIL til ,

N1•1lll1U'f 1\ltll \Wlf tlU:th .1.1{~. lliiH 111 Vc-:rn ~- n-1111 'H , , I ·I I 1r '11 r.:- ItT rP,I< ·•<fl ni~J ' ' '11h o1 I I~ •I h prroJI\, l ll!C Uf'!>nn.!d 11 ~ 11,j,tit1ll <1 r.-ftl1IJII1Jl.l ~IS'Irtlni'tte-j I, ' IIII I~IJII I T•• tl~liTII

VeiJ Sites

by 7om ?toMe

This is the fourth in a series of articles in this column listing lntemet/WWW sites that mosquito control districts, county and other government agencies might find useful in addressing mosquito control in the public arena. This might have been the most difficult article of the series to write because there is so much that could be included. Many, if not all, ofthe search engines/browsers have a link to education, reference and science categories. lfthe following list doesn't serve your needs, go to one of those and try your own search. Hopefully, the list will point you toward your particularly needs and requirements. At the end of the article, you will find some Florida mosquito district addresses/contacts who have developed Educational Programs as an integral part of their program.

20 Winter 1999 'UIU«J &au

Lee County Mosquito Control District ~ http:// www.lcmcd.org/ contact Neil Wilkinson (nellw@lee.k12.fl.us) or Brian Murphy (brianm4@1ee.k12.fl.us) at 941 .275.3033, fax -941 .275.1455

Collier County Mosquito Control District - http:/1 www.collier-mosquito.org/ contact Jeff Stivers (Jeff@collier-mosquito.org) at 941 .436.1000.

Pasco County Mosquito Control District - http:// home1.gte.net/pcmcd/index.htm contact Doug Wassmer (pcmcd@getnet ) at 727.376.4568

If there are other mosquito control agencies out there that have educational programs connected to the local school programs please contact the article author so that they might be included in a later publi-cation or database. "

Tom Floore is a Research Entomologist with the Public Health Research & Education Center, Panama City, FL

Floore_ T@popmail.firn.edu

Winter 1999 21

Announcing the new mosquito control standard

for the next 20 years. oo~l.

New Aqua-Reslin'." o mosquitoe . No comporiso·n.

r I , -,..-• I itt! 1

' , , • 111~ l!o.H1 ,...., ~ ,... . ,,, ir;'r,;;

Lake Charles, LA 70601 Phone: 318-474-2723

Fax: 318-478-9434

Individuals enhancing the health and quality of life through the suppression of mosquitoes, other

vectors and pests of public health importance.

PAYMENT Check payable to AMCA enclosed. Visa Mastercard

Discover

CA tax I.D. # 22-171-5661

Exp. Date

· ted Name of Cardholder

SigDatuce

must be submitted to

CA Central Office in writing. A $50.00 j cellation fee will apply to cancellation received by j ch I . 2000. No fees will be refunded for •

cellation received after March I . 2000 for 011)' l

TURN THIS FORM TH PAYMENT TO: CA

2200 East Prien Lake Rd. ake Chru·les, LA 70601

AX CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS TO: 318-4 78-9434

QUESTIONS? lease call the AMCA Central Office at

318-474-2723.

!

l I

ote: Registrations will not be processed without full 1 yment. Purchase orders will not be considered as full j yment. Please do not send a registration form j

;vithout payment. Enclose a check payable to AMCA , U. S. funds drawn on a U. S. bank, U. S. postal !

oney order or U. S. traveler' s checks; or provide i edit card information above. Only on-site j

registntions will be accepted after J anuary 31, i "'"""

2000 ANl\TAL :\'IEETil\"G REGISTRA.TION

American Mosquito Control Association 661

h Annual Meeting- March 12-16, 2000 Bally's Park Place

Atlantic City, NJ

ONE FOR..t\1 PER PERSON/ PLEASE DUPLICATE

NAME for badge

ORGANIZATION for badge

CITY. STATE. OR COUNTRY for badge

M AILING ADDRESS FOR CONFIRMATION:

STREET ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP COUNTRY

WORK PHONE FAX E-MAIL

Al·e you a member of AMCA? Yes No Non-members may join and qualify for the member meeting registration fee by selecting a member category below and rettu'lling payment with yow· completed registration form.

Is this your first AMCA Meeting? Yes No

REGIS TRATION FEES (Please circle y our selection)

Member Status

AMCAMember

Non-member 6oin now and register at the member rate)

On or before 1131100

$175.00

$210.00

Trustee $225.00

Student (banquet not included) $50.00

Personal Guest $90.00

Extra Banquet $40.00

Additional I tems: CEC Documentation

Memberships: (Conftnnation will be mailed within 6 - 8 weeks.)

Regular - $70.00 (receives 4 issues ofJoumal, 6 issues of Newsletter, 4 issues of Wing!Jeats)

Associate - $30.00 (receives 6 issues of Newsletter, 4 issues ofWmgBeats)

Student - $30.00 (receives 4 issues ofJoumal, 6 issues of Newsletter, 4 issues of WingBeats)

After 1131100 and on-site

$200.00

$235.00

$250.00

$75.00

$105.00

$40.00

$15.00

24 Winter 1999 Wing Beats

Entomologist/Biologist

There is an immediate opening in the private sectorfor an individual with training in the field of ento-mology or biology. While not required, an under-graduate or graduate degree is preferred. The ap-plicant must have an interest in applied field ento-mology, the ability to direct other employees, andbe self-motivated.

This is a professional level position with a track tomanagement of a county-wide mosquito control pro-gram. The successful applicant will be trained inall phases of mosquito abatement using an integratedpest management approach.

Please forward resume and salary history to Mos-quito Inc., 659 Leson Court, Harvey, LA 70158:Attn.: Wayne Machado, General Manager - Fax(504) 368-2512.

Positions Available

National Sales Representative

B&G Chemicals & Equipment Co., Inc. seeks nationalsales rep knowledgeable in the field of mosquito con-trol. This individual will assist in marketing and strat-egy of our company’s expansion nationally into themosquito industry. Individual will travel throughoutthe United States making contact with potential ac-counts and attend industry conferences.

The position requires that this individual reside in theDallas/Fort Worth area.

Compensation package includes salary, bonus, com-mission, health benefits and profit sharing.

Please send resume to Emmitt Bewley, P.O. Box540428, Dallas, Texas 75354-4028. For additionalinformation call 800-345-9387.

i~Pest Aside

On Friday, 14 May 1999, the Delaware Mosquito Control Section received a complaint about large numbers of mosquitoes inside a residence located in a historically non-problematic area of New Castle Co., Delaware. This particular resi­dence also happened to be in a very new, expensive , naturall y well­drained and highly manicured devel­opment. Although I doubted that the problem was mosquitoes, the ho­meowner was very interested in helping solve the problem so I asked her to capture a sample for identifi­cation purposes. She did, and to my surprise, they turned out to be mos­quitoes, Orlhopodomyia signifera or Or. Alba. Orlhopodomyia are a sel­dom collected, container/treehole breeding orn ithophilic mosquito. This made sense since the resi­dents were not being bitten. Now the question was 'how and why were the mosquitoes getting into the house in numbers greater than 30 a night?

Orthopodomyia and the Fireplace

I was now faced with searching for mosquito breeding sources within a house-something I had never done before. Since the home was less than a year old, the owner set up an on-site meeting with the builder so we could brainstorm on where water could accumulate within the home. Again, nothing turned up and I became increasingly frustrated over this quandary.

A week after the first call we got a break. The owner noticed that the majority of the mosquitoes were lo­cated around the fireplace and that the damper to the chimney was slightly opened. She hypothesized that they could be coming from somewhere within the chimney and suggested stuffing the gap in the damper with towels to see if that reduced the number of mosquitoes in the home. It did. We assumed there might be water lying at the base of the chimney (smoke shelf, base of chimney, etc.). I opened the

by 7tJHt~

damper, reached up inside and dropped some Altosid 90-day bri­quettes down the chimney. I was also able to fix the gap so that it closed tightly. There have been no mosquitoes since. We don't know if there was water somewhere within the chimney or if we simply closed off the adults' access route to the living quarters; either way it was a new one on us.

Tom Moran is with the Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife.

email: tmoran@state.de.us

BVA MOSQUITO CONTROL PRODUCTS

BVA 2 Larvicide Oil

EPA # 70589 Quick Kill Larvicide

Sh01t-Term

BVA 13 EPA# 55206-2

The Clear Choice For ULV Diluents

BVA Maximum Flushing Oil

Cleans Nozzles and Tanks Dissolves Insecticide Residues

and Sludge Deposits

BVA Fog Oil 100 Naphthenic Oil

Used for Ce1tain Fogging Operations

BVA Paint Slayer

Added to Paint for use on walls, ceilings and floors to provide protection against mosquitoes

and other insects BVA OILS 800-231-3376

BVA Conceal Skin Gel

Protects skin from mosquitoes, Inidge and other attack insects

Repels, does not kill

BVA Banzai Fabric Spray

Use on clothes, hats, picnic tables, patios Repels, does not kill

FAX# 248-348-2684 E-MAIL: CUSERV@BVAOILS.COM

Winter 1999 25

(~ ________ N_ew __ s_Y_o_u __ C_an __ U_s_e ______ ~] Mid-Atlantic Mosquito Control Association Meeting

\~~~81NG~ For information about the hotel visit the web site: www.embarcadero-resort.com. The follow ing link will take you the the web site of the 2000 annual meeting ofthe NWMVCA: http:// ~.tnreslea:l.cx:m

February 23-25, 2000 Litchfield Golf and Beach Resort in Litchfield Beach, SC. More information can be requested from Sue Ferguson, vice president of MAMCA: ~.cl1ec.state.sc.us Hotel: (800) 8451897

AMCAINJMCA Annual Meeting March 12-16, 2000

CDC 2000 International Con­ference on Emerging Infec­tious Diseases

July 16-19,2000

FMCA Annual Fall Conference November 12-14, 2000 Edgewater Beach Resort, Panama City Beach, FL For more information contact Shelly Redovan

Atlantic City, New Jersey Bally's/Park Place Resort (800) 225-5977 For more information contact the AMCA Central Office Phone:(318)47 4-2723 Fax:(318)478-9434 or visit AMCA's web site at http://www.mosquito.org

Marriott Marquis Hotel Atlanta, GA Contact: Charles Schable or Peter Drotman (404) 639-3174; Email: cas1@cdc.gov or dpd1 @cdc.gov Internet: www. cdc.gov /ncidod/ iceid2k.htm

Phone: (941)694-2174 or visit FMCA's web site at www. florida mosquito. org

2000 ESA Annual Meeting December 3-7, 2000 Montreal, Canada

FMCA Spring Conference May2-3, 2000

NWMVCA Annual Meeting October 4-5, 2000 The 39th annual conference of the NWMVCA will be held in Newport, Oregon at the Embarcadero Resort, on the Oregon Coast.

The ESA Annual Meeting held in conjunction with La Societe d'Entomologie du Quebec and the Entomological Society of Canada, will take place at the Palais des Congres de Montreal. For more informa­t ion visit their website at

~

Safety Harbor Resort and Spa, Tampa, FL For more information contact Shelly Redovan Phone: (941 )694-2174

For information contact:

or visit FMCA's web site at www. florida mosquito. org

Ron J. Montgomery Phone:(541 )567 -5201 http:/ /www.entosoc.org.

AM MIA THE PREFERRED INSURANCE PROGRAM /

HOW MUNICIPALITIES AND TAXING DISTRICTS CONTAIN THE HIGH COST OFINSURANCEPR01ECTION

GENERAL LIABILITY *** P UBLIC OFFICIALS LIABILITY *** AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY AVIATION LIABILITY*** AVIATI ON H ULL ***AVIATION CHEMICAL LIABILITY

S OUTHWEST ASSURANCE CORPORATION OF FLORIDA (PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS) 401 EAST JACKSON STREET, SUI TE 1700 TAMPA, FL 33601-3364

PHONE: 800-527-4953 FAX: 813-222-4040

ENDORSED BY THE AMERICAN MOSQUITO CONTROL ASSOCIATION

26 Winter 1999 W 6f? ~

'v'"'" r1· s~~h:lli \'\\ .\:l4 I' o~l.:· •"'IMll "'' ,11 d ' 'I 111 ,1 1 11 lr\ •'tl tl) 11111\11 I I'll ' Ill I~~· Li ~lltt 1 11\111~1-. Ynl! l 11111111111 till ,,, '"

k.·lh~n-' ~\·IY.'·I ·, ,,,,Ill' •1 ""

\:\'c"t~ !-.l:lV IIIA; LIK· Ve<.tor C( lniJ ,Ji l nJLL-.,tr~

"'fh., Ur!l I dot I ~ '"' (-11\ld ~ ,;:).

"' lL lu '!L"A

'\e'n: V\Vc R

II I{( ~ I h lithtJ

• Pl~:\1li1 • ll ~tll>f\.IU\ 9wtJ~jh

• l1 iu;:r •l'l ... '" -.;lfer. ¥ 1

.. LI.~r-'111• •11L.T1U.ll l If!":-

C.<ul Ybur 11.\x..·all \\-&R 10tl1cc At

1-800-888-4\/WR Van Wa,ters, & Rogers line.

" Jt J. • .::1

The secret ro unparalleled aaulr mosqurco

control? ANVILm. Whether yo Jr program calls

for c round m .rterrctl apph( rtt1on. ANVIL can

help you crust1 aduJl mosqww populat ons

Sumtthnn rhe ~ey

tngredlent syncrgt.zcs v,,nh p1pcrony1 butoxlae

{PBOJ for unequalled eff,oency QrgdnophosphcH~ re.sl5tant spec1es can't even stand up to ANVIl Ancll h~r~}

more· ANVIL IS non corrostve .':1ncJ odudt.~s It

requm:~ no mtxtng. no orl. Ana tJPcau , .. It~ o eftectTve 1n ultra low vorurn • ilrl)lic rt t1om

you'll need tess m keep m(isqurroe~ 1 y-- -undcr comroL And rhars good nt:ws

fo1 your bormm line ANVIL offers CJ unlqutt

C:OmbrnatiOn of flexibility clnd concrol that

cremes o new era in ndul[ mosquito control.

Field rescs show thar ANVIL ts scrrrng tl1e still1-

dflrd Ular i:!ll rt1~ orhers wtH h.ClVC to fottow

Ready to find Ot•t more?

1-800-323-5727

Clarke •! Mosquito Control Products, Inc.

w w w • c I a r I< e m o s q u 1 t o • c o m