Photo By Hugh Cox | Lt. Hanayo Arimoto, Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit Five (NEPMU-5),...... read more read more
Bear spray? Check. Mosquito repellent? Check. Tick drags? Double-check!
Members from the Navy Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit Five (NEPMU-5) completed a 2-week vector surveillance mission at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER), in Anchorage, Alaska in support of an Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch (AFHSB), Global Emerging Infection Surveillance (GEIS) project. Alaska is an area of U. S. Northern Command priority when surveying for public health threats.
“We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work with the Air Force and base environmental on this surveillance effort as ticks and their diseases are the second most important vector threat to public health and our forces,” said Lt. Hanayo Arimoto, entomologist, NEPMU-5.
The NEPMU-5 team coordinated their surveillance mission to JBER with their Air Force counterparts, who have been heading a long term tick surveillance effort on the installation via small-mammal trapping since 2017.
“Monitoring the tick species found on the small mammals is an easy way to monitor the training areas for introduction of invasive species and risks to military training, as well as gathering baseline information on the native ticks present within the habitats,” stated Ms. Colette Brandt, biologist, Natural Resource PM, 673 CES/CEIEC. “This project is a great opportunity to further pursue this work, and I’m happy to help contribute and excited to see additional interest and support to monitor JBER in this aspect.”
During their visit, the NEPMU-5 team also spent time training Air Force Public Health Technicians and Bioenvironmental Technicians on tick surveillance techniques.
“Air Force Public Health at JBER mostly focuses on mosquito surveillance, so for Airmen to engage and train with our Navy partners was a great opportunity,” said Capt. Dahlia Andreadis, public health officer, 673 AMDS/SGPM. “We not only learned about the Navy’s Vector Surveillance mission and projects, but we also discovered that Alaska does in fact have an increasing tick population; we will now be incorporating more tick surveillance in our routine vector surveillance mission on JBER!”
On their final day of collecting, the NEPMU-5 team even had a bear sneak up on them in the field. “We heard the crack of a branch and when I looked up there was a black bear sitting on its hind legs about 30 feet away from us, as a PMT, this is a different kind of occupational hazard from being on a ship,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Tanner Peralta, preventive medicine technician, NEPMU-5.
Data from ticks collected as part of this effort will be shared with multiple stakeholders including Dr. Micah Hahn, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at University of Alaska-Anchorage. Dr. Hahn is a partner of the Alaska Submit-A-Tick Program, an initiative that benefits the entire state.
"We are still learning about the kinds of ticks and tick-borne pathogens that we have in Alaska," said Hahn. "The Alaska Submit-A-Tick Program and our collaborations with biologists who are trapping wildlife is a key way we can extend our tick surveillance into hard to reach areas in the state, including military installations.”
“The GEIS-funded initiative to survey ticks and tick-borne diseases onboard DoD installations provides Commanders and Public Health officials a better understanding of the public health risk ticks pose to our military forces,” said Capt. Peter Obenauer, officer in charge, NEPMU-5. “Lyme disease (vectored by ticks) is a debilitating illness and remains the number one vector-borne transmitted disease in the United States. This joint collaborative project not only provides stakeholders with important information on tick ecology in different environments, but a critical understanding on how we can control and prevent tick-borne diseases from threatening our active duty forces."
For more news from Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit Five, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/nepmu5 or follow NEPMU-5 on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nepmu5.
For more news from Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/nmcphc/.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2020 13:48 |
| Story ID: | 378392 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 242 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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