Local researchers and students are involved in an effort to track mosquito-borne illness in northern New York.
Last year, St. Lawrence County identified fatal cases of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) in horses. So, New York state partnered with researchers and students at SUNY ESF, SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson University, and Cornell University to test for viruses in mosquito populations.
Brian Leydet, an associate professor of epidemiology and disease ecology at SUNY ESF, helped design the surveillance plan.
"Surveillance is so important because if we can have any early warning, public health can put out messaging and inform people of what they should do to reduce their risk, and the risk of their livestock, or their loved ones, or even their domestic animals," Leydet said.
The teams tested more than 6,000 mosquitoes, trapping them in three different ways and sending them to New York state facilities for testing.
Researchers did not find EEE in the mosquito pools, but they did find West Nile virus, and Leydet said that prompted community alerts.
"It's important to note that these diseases are pretty rare in mosquitoes. You're talking maybe one to six per thousand,” Leydet said. “To find a virus is really phenomenal."
Leydet said the mosquito collection for this season is finished, since mosquito activity decreases with colder weather, but he said St. Lawrence County is budgeting to continue and possibly expand the mosquito surveillance for next year.
