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Military personnel are no strangers to hazardous working environments. Depending on their job and location, they could be interacting with anything from unexploded explosive ordnance to armed insurgents on a weekly basis.
Because of this, it can be easy for some to underestimate the hazards present in their own backyards.
Personnel from the 20th Civil Engineer Squadron entomology flight have been working side-by-side with 20th Aerospace Medicine Squadron public health flight Airmen since early March to control the mosquito population on Shaw.
“Entomology’s overall role is pest control,” said Tim Clepper, 20th CES entomology flight pest management technician. “We control destructive weeds; nuisance wildlife such as possums, raccoons and mice; and insects such as cockroaches and mosquitos.”
Mosquito season typically runs from April to November in South Carolina, and each year the 20th CES entomology flight teams up with the 20th AMDS public health flight to swat Shaw’s mosquito problem before it gets out of hand.
“The public health flight’s main goal is to stop the chain of infection,” said Senior Airman Samuel Bauer, 20th AMDS public health flight entomology manager.
In regards to mosquitos, “stopping the infection” refers to minimizing the population, which cuts down on the amount of insects potentially carrying harmful viruses such as West Nile, Zika and Malaria.
The first step in controlling the mosquito population involves Airmen from the public health flight setting up traps around bodies of stagnant water where mosquitos are likely to lay their eggs. If 30 or more mosquitos are caught in one trap in a specified amount of time, the entomology shop is called to treat the area.
“That’s kind of how they gauge if we’re going to have an increased hatch like we’re expecting this year,” said Master Sgt. Alan Martin, 20th CES infrastructure superintendent. “They do that monitoring, and then they communicate with my shop to let us know whether our prevention methods are working.”
The second step in preventing the spread of insect-transmitted diseases involves 20th AMDS public health Airmen freezing captured mosquitos and sending them to a laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio for analysis. Entomologists at the lab conduct tests to determine whether or not the specimens are carrying viruses that could be harmful to humans.
Once the tests are complete, the entomologists send a detailed report back to 20th AMDS public health, who inform 20th CES entomology of the results. Although the risk is always present, there have not been any reported cases of mosquito-borne disease on Shaw in almost three years.
The third and final step in controlling Shaw’s mosquito population and preventing the spread of disease is preventing the insects from breeding any further in areas with an already dense population, or areas in which disease-carrying insects have been identified.
The primary prevention method employed by the 20th CES entomology is larvicide, which is a chemical that kills mosquitos before they reach the stage of their lives at which they are able to fly. By dissolving larvicide tablets in bodies of stagnant water where mosquito eggs are hatching, entomology flight personnel can minimize the changes of mosquitos breeding in that area for 150 days.
Although 20th CES entomology and 20th AMDS public health personnel work all season long to keep the mosquito population at Shaw under control, Clepper warns that Shaw residents can expect more mosquitos than usual this year due to the high levels of rainfall last year and unseasonably high temperatures in recent months.
“I believe we’re in for a bad year,” said Clepper. “Avoidance is the key; if you’re going to be outside after dark or in areas where mosquitos will be, use repellants and wear longer sleeves.”
For more information on what can be done at the individual level to prevent airborne diseases carried by mosquitos, visit http://www.shaw.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/6105/Article/713919/mosquitoes-are-out.aspx.
| Date Taken: | 04.18.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.18.2016 11:54 |
| Story ID: | 195670 |
| Location: | SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 20th CES, 20th AMDS abuzz this mosquito season, by TSgt Zade Vadnais, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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