Our guest this week was Bart Foster who has his doctorate in entomology from Texas A&M. Bart grew up in Madisonville, Texas on his family’s farm raising horses and cattle. Now he is married and has four children, who most likely (due to a family genetic disorder) will want to go to Texas A&M.

Dr. Foster started off his presentation by reading a document from Memphis, Tennessee that was written in 1878. The article was about the devastation caused by an outbreak of yellow fever (which is transmitted by mosquitoes). In that outbreak over 759 people died, which accounted for 1/5 of the city’s population. Back then, outbreaks such as these were common, but even today, 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 fatalities occur each year due to diseases caused by mosquitoes and other insects. Fortunately for us, the United States is spared from most of these outbreaks.

 

Dr. Foster pointed out that there are different types of mosquito borne illnesses. In cases such as malaria, the mosquito infects an individual, but then that individual is not capable of spreading the disease further. In other instances (such as bird flu and the Zika virus) an infected mosquito can bite a human and then that human can spread the disease to other humans. In addition, the disease can be transmitted from an infected individual to a non-infected mosquito. The mosquito will then become infected and spread the disease further.  This type of disease spreads much more rapidly.

 

The Zika virus originally started in monkeys in Uganda. The virus was named after the Zika forest where these monkeys lived.  Ultimately, humans became infected in Africa and the virus then spread to South America and Central America. Although the virus is not actively in the United States, Dr. Foster believes the virus will spread to the US within the next 12 months.

 

Currently, there is no treatment for the Zika virus, but scientists have had a lot of experience developing vaccines for other mosquito borne viruses and believe that experience will shorten the time necessary to develop an effective remedy. This virus can cause miscarriages, microcephaly (which results in abnormal brain development in a fetus) and impaired vision. Given that there is no vaccine, it’s even more important for everyone to eliminate mosquito breeding sites such as low spots that have standing water, wear insect repellent that contains DEET, and wear long pants and long sleeve shirts when mosquitoes are present.  (My personal plan of action to avoid the Zika virus is to stay inside, drink beer, eat chocolate and watch TV, until there is a cure for this dreadful disease.)