Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Opening- Dr. Mustapha Debboun, retired colonel,
Director of Harris County Mosquito and Vector Control Division, Houston, TX. Overview of arbovirus surveillance and vector control in Harris County and city of Houston.

Dr. Derric Nimmo, Oxitec, UK. Sterile insect-based approaches: the future of mosquito control?

Randy Buckley, University of Florida. Wide angle UV-LEDs for use in mosquito light traps.

Dr. Hoonbok Wi, Professor of Seoul Women University, Seoul, Korea. Implementation and real impact of smart mosquito device system at the Metropolitan cities in South Korea.

The preliminary business meeting was held.

Dr. Philip Armstrong, the current Chair, began by stating it had been a busy year with multi-state NE1443, addressing many problems and working with the CDC Centers of Excellence to leverage our expertise to address threats such as Zika virus, Chikungunya, etc. This is the fourth year of the multistate, second year with Phil as chair. Dr. Armstrong stated that the group was here today looking for opportunities to collaborate and for possible funding that could be applied for.

Dr. Theodore Andreadis, Administrative Advisor then covered some administrative items. There are 32 formal participants in NE1443 from 24 land-grant universities and 4 non-land grant entities. But participation is “less than stellar”. By a count of hands, there were only about 20 people total present. The President’s budget “zeroed out” multistate capacity funds but it did not pass Congress. A continuing resolution is likely, but in any case, this project terminates September 30, 2019, and we will need to request a rewrite in September 2018, which will be due in March 2018. Ted then asked, “do we want to continue?” cooperation is low; however, the Centers of Excellence offer new opportunities for cooperation. There was then discussion led by Dr. Andreadis of the “regional” definition and experiment stations and NIMSS. He then talked about the potential of leveraging a larger USDA grant for the group.

Drs. Paul Leisnham and Laura Harrington discussed integration between the multistate and the CDC Centers of Excellence, with Laura Harrington saying that in her state of New York, there has been extensive collaboration in the past year. Dr. Phillip Kaufman says it will take time for groups to mesh, that the idea of the multistate complex is to draw on ideas that wouldn’t otherwise be possible in individual states. He stresses that individual resources from the USDA or industry would be helpful.

Dr. James Becnel then said that other multistate groups, i.e the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, are more focused and that’s better. This group is simply too diverse and there are too many non-participating members. Maybe we should focus, and this is generally agreed upon.

Dr. Berlin Londoño introduced herself and that she works on the human aspect and has no idea about reports because she just joined the project recently.

Dr. Andreadis said that a report is due within 60 days. He then asked if it was thought that funding for travel to this meeting affected participation. It was generally agreed that yes, travel funding did affect participation. Ted said he could send a reminder to institutions to remind the directors that the travel to meetings should always be supported. Directors should like us to participate in multi-state projects as 25% of multistate participation is needed to receive capacity funds.

Drs. Leisnham, Hamer, Reiskind said that we had to be strategic about leveraging future funding and that the problem is that other multi-states go for USDA funding, but USDA doesn’t fund much mosquito research. Leisnham, Hamer, Reiskind, Kaufman said that ticks would be better for USDA funding. The group discussed how this multistate project was supposed to get results in 3-5 years but the grants leveraged don’t have to be USDA grants.

Dr. Becnel said a lot of us do surveillance, and could we work together on that? We could generate preliminary data and then use that to go for grants.

Dr. Kaufman said that livestock pests got split up into the past into separate multi-states and that it helped them. They added an extension component, and it kicked out some “dead weight”, and each member had an assigned role. Phil Armstrong and Laura Harrington said haven’t we been doing that. It was generally agreed that we have been achieving this through individual work.

Dr. Kaufman then said we need to not be late on the rewrite. Drs. Andreadis, Hamer, Armstrong, Becnel then discussed how Aedes aegypti expansion and population genetics might be good to focus on in the rewrite. But we need to be concrete about what each group in the multistate group does and what will be done during the course of the timeline. It was generally agreed that focusing the grant in was generally a good idea.

There was then a long discussion about general ideas, including the displacement of Aedes aegypti by Aedes albopictus, the potential for incorporating climate change into these studies.

BREAK.

Dr. Philip Kaufman, University of Florida then gave a talk titled “Prevalence and distribution of pathogen infection and permethrin resistance in tropical and temperate brown dog tick populations”.

There was a long discussion of how regional multi-state projects could collaborate with some of these large, new research centers.

There were member introductions.

Review of Major Objectives and Goals

Objective 1: Development of parasitic and arthropod catalog/resources. James Becnel then said that the data set of vector resources has been fully compiled and that BEI resources are interested mostly in human pathogens and vectors, while our original idea was to include ag and vet pest cell lines. The database went from excel to a fillable form format for cataloging and we will try to have everything finalized within the next 3 months. Group discussion regarding permit requirements through APHIS occurred.

Action Items: 1) decide upon a database program to use, 2) establish a curation committee, 3) compile shipping/regulatory information and 4) work towards a publication.

Objective 2:  Integrated tick management and community-centered approaches, including understanding the biology and ecology of novel and emerging tick-borne pathogens. Dr. Armstrong discussed some important recent findings. He discussed Powassan virus (POWV) and Lyme disease in the northeast and reported that he had found a surprisingly high prevalence of Powassan virus (POWV) in the regional Ixodes. 2-3% of adult ticks carry the virus, and it differs from Lyme disease and is spread almost instantly. It is present in the salivary glands. The first human case in Connecticut was in 2016. Viral sequencing for genetic variation and there are 2 persistent strains in the region. During earlier Lyme work in the area, there were no viral agents found in Ixodes. The virus seems like it’s moving through, with 10-20% lethality in reported cases. But human infections are fairly rare. He stated that there were no commercial tests, and this is mostly an unreported disease that is mild in most patients. Follow-up comments clarified that POWV has been isolated from multiple Ixodes species, including Ixodes scapularis and I. cookie. Deer tick virus, which is closely related to POWV, has been isolated from Ixodes scapularis. 

Drs. Harrington, Hamer, Andreadis discussed tick work involving the NE CDC Centers of Excellence pertaining to veterinary school diagnostics and post-doctoral researchers working on mapping projects. They also discussed the difference in active versus passive tick surveillance in the region, and that passive might be better based on some literature. It was also mentioned that over-wintering Lone Star ticks might be moving north into Connecticut while Ixodes scapularis might be moving further south and bringing Lyme disease with them.

Action Items: 1) increase surveillance of environmental risks, 2) describe the importance of coinfection and 3) focus research on the IPM of ticks

LUNCH

Dr. Daniel Dixon of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District, “Field comparison of CDC’s AGO traps and In2Care traps for control of Aedes mosquitoes in St. Augustine, FL”

Objective 3: Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, with a focus on surveillance, range, expansion, ecology, genetics, climate change and disease risk. Dr. Harrington said there were 4 projects in this area that she was involved with. First was Aedes albopictus surveillance in the New York metro area, second is the citizen’s science project looking at Aedes range expansion, the third involves drone imaging to recognize container density, the fourth is egg identification of Aedes japonicus versus Aedes triseratus.

Dr. Leisnham discussed his projects, namely: 1. Aedes albopictus ecology in the Baltimore area and that he has found trends with income gradient, greenspace, and precipitation effects. 2. Ae. albopictus versus Culex competition in tires where they found Culex negatively affecting Aedes population performance in tires exposed to high UV light. Also noted that Zinc, a marker tire contaminant, was found in higher concentrations in Aedes vs Culex adult mosquitoes. Lastly, he discussed overwintering survival in different container types. 

Dr. Reiskind then discussed several projects. 1. Fine-scale distribution maps for Aedes mosquitoes in Florida counties where habitat segregation between con-generic species was seen. This effort was aimed at predictive modeling capabilities. 2. Relationship of Aedes populations with complex social factors in human populations. 3. Fine-scale gene flow with human traffic on roads, etc. this project uses SNP sequencing to track population changes in mosquitoes.

Dr. King then discusses two projects. 1. Collaboration looking at effects of carbon nitrogen and Zika virus infection on Aedes aegypti vector competence. 2. Molecular surveillance of mixed insect traps. Asked for samples.

Drs. Reiskind and Harrington then put forth the idea that interstate collections and fine-scale population genetics could be used to study the interstate movement of important vector species. This would allow for members of the multistate to work together and to apply for competitive funding together. The main species discussed was Aedes albopictus. Dr. Becnel chimed in that Aedes pesticide resistance project had collected them from all over the eastern US, that Ae. albopictus was collected and he probably has lots of eggs and DNA stored for use in such joint projects. Philip Armstrong added in that Aedes albopictus seemed to be expanding its range in Connecticut recently and that winter temperature seemed to have a strong effect. Drs. Reiskind, Becnel, Harrington, and Armstrong then engaged in a discussion of rural versus urban Aedes population dynamics in the eastern US. They also discussed developing better collection techniques, i.e trap types, lure bait, etc.

Action Items: None identified.

Objective 4: New control tools, including socio-ecological approaches. No members present.

Action Items: None identified

Objective 5: Training and training tools. Dr. Leisnham discussed that this Objective had proposed to host a workshop and write a paper on needed training and certification programs for medical entomologists but that these were before the recently established CDC Centers of Excellence and AMCA CDC Training and Certification programs and therefore this Objective are at a plateau point. It was agreed that the Medical Entomology landscape had changed with regards to training, making and this Objective obsolete. Nonetheless, the production of Medical Entomology academic courses that was produced in the first two years was still considered useful.

Action Items: None identified

Group discussion involved whether or not we should apply to continue NE1443, and if so, what direction do we want to steer the project. Harrington and Armstrong indicated that they wanted the project to continue, but could not chair the application committee. Leisnham talked of moving forward with the pros and cons of having broad versus narrow objectives; specifically, that broad objectives are good for establishing connections and for numbers in publications. Whereas one or 2 specific aims could help us focus in on research topics that would help facilitate interstate projects. Andreadis said that we basically need to revise to reassign a priority area.

Dr. Andreadis said that he could stay on as the administrative advisor, Harrington led a discussion for 2 objectives for the renewal: 1. Interstate population landscape genetics. 2. Novel surveillance of viruses and insects. There was a discussion of the desire for a third aim if needed. These first two aims leave out ticks, and there was a discussion that a third aim would have to include ticks. Followup comments indicated some favor to focus on the invasive longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) which has been detected in New Jersey.

Group discussion on potential funding sources and development of prospective collaborative proposals.

There was another discussion on where the meeting should be held next year in order to increase attendance. A number of participants favored the current March date while others did not. There were suggestions to attach it to a larger meeting but some participants raised the challenges of choosing a mutually agreeable meeting and the potential of higher costs. No location was finally decided.

Closing: Dr. Paul Leisnham takes on the role as the new Chair of NE1443, and he agrees to act as the leader for the renewal submission for 2018-2019. Jonas King will continue as secretary for the next year.

Overall action items:

Minutes completed and circulated

Decide on the venue for the 2019 meeting, which might increase participation

Dr. Andreadis look up alternative multistate type

Meeting adjourned at 5 pm.

Objective 1: The aim of this project is to support and promote available resources such as the BEI Resources established by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for human pathogens and to identify alternative sources for vector resources beyond those found in BEI. The main objective is to support, promote, and enlarge the BEI resource for pathogens and vectors of human disease to include the identification and development of alternative resources that can be used to facilitate the study of arthropod vectors and arthropod-borne zoonotic disease agents of human and animal health importance.

A comprehensive listing has been compiled to include more than 70 laboratory colonies of mosquitoes, sandflies, muscoid flies, 
Culicoides, and ticks, and arthropod cell lines derived from ticks, mosquitoes, sand flies, and Culicoides.The database has been converted from an excel file to bring a fillable form format for cataloging and we will try to have everything finalized within the next 3 months.

Objective 2: The rapid increase in the incidence of human illness due to tick-borne pathogens requires better integration of available management options as well as the development of new approaches. The aim of this project is to improve methods for assessment of infection status of ticks and reservoirs, to assess ecological risk of tick-borne pathogens and features that regulate tick density, and to test and develop methods for suppression of ticks or pathogens in urban and suburban environments.

Dr. Armstrong and participants continued a multi-year survey to evaluate the spatial distribution and environmental risk of Powassan virus (POWV) infection by determining the prevalence of POWV in field-collected I. scapularis from Connecticut. To date, a total of 1077 I. scapularis nymphs and 1803 adults were assayed for virus infection.  POWV was recovered from 4 nymphal ticks (0.4%) and from 17 adult ticks (0.9%) in four locations in Connecticut (Bridgeport, Lyme, Redding, and North Branford).  This investigation shows that POWV is distributed in foci throughout Connecticut where it infects a low proportion of human-biting ticks. Infection rates were more than 2-fold higher in adult than nymphal ticks.  Given that POWV may be transmitted within 15 minutes of tick attachment as compared with the agents of Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis which takes at least 48 hours, the adult tick may be an important source of human infection of POWV.

Lyme disease (LD) is the most important tick-associated disease in the United States. A variety of prevention and control methods, including personal protective measures, habitat modification, applications of biological and natural compounds, and host-targeted control measures, have been examined for reducing tick abundance and risk for LD. Most of these approaches have met with varying degrees of success. Dr. Molaei and colleagues are exploring  the efficacy of integrated and individual tick control measures by: 1) developing a reduced risk/integrated tick management (ITM) approach to tick control, using an array of least-toxic tick control measures, in a residential community, that is effective, safe, inexpensive, and simple to implement, 2) measuring efficacy of individual methods and an ITM approach to reduce infected ticks, infected reservoirs, and questing tick populations as a means of reducing the risk of tick-borne disease and LD incidence, 3) determining most effective timing and method of implementation of each tick control method and analyze costs for individual components of an ITM program, the ITM program as a whole, and individual costs to the homeowner, and 4) creating a decision support system that provides guidance to homeowners on the risk of acquisition of LD. The project should result in reduced pesticide use, easy access to information on tick management strategies, the adoption and use of various cost-effective tick management approaches by homeowners, and the ability of communities to design an ITM system to reduce the risk of LD.

Objective 3: This Objective focuses on the surveillance, range expansion, ecology, genetics, and disease risk of Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti. Although much work has been conducted already on these species, not enough is known about their recent biology, especially in areas where Ae. albopictus has recently invaded (Northeastern States), or where a resurgence in population abundance is occurring for Ae. aegypti (Florida) where it overlaps with Ae. albopictus.  This objective will produce the following: (1) development of new data on overwintering survival of the Asian tiger mosquito (2) development of predictive models for vector range expansion and disease transmission, and (3) recommendations best practices for vector control and disease intervention in the face of an outbreak.

The northern distribution limit for Ae. albopictus is estimated to be between the 0o and -5o C mean winter temperature isotherms based on its distribution in East Asia.  The coast of southern Connecticut and Massachusetts is located within these isotherms and appear to possess suitable habitat and climatic conditions for future colonization.  Dr. Armstrong and colleagues have continued to sample larval and adult mosquitoes from locations in Connecticut to determine the extent of the Ae. albopictus infestation and to evaluate its overwintering success in this region. 

Dr. Leisnham, his PhD student, Oswaldo Villena, and colleagues continued their research on the effects of tire habitats on the ecology of Aedes albopictus. Discarded vehicle tires degrade under ultraviolet light (UV) and leach numerous soluble metals (e.g., barium, cadmium, zinc) and organic substances (e.g., benzothiazole and its derivatives [BZTs], polyaromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs]) that could affect mosquito larvae that inhabit the tire casing. One specific study examined the relationship between soluble zinc, as a marker of tire leachate, on mosquito densities in tire habitats in the field and tested the effects of tire leachate on the survival and development of newly hatched Aedes albopictus and Aedes triseriatus (a co-occurring species) larvae in a controlled laboratory dose-response experiment. This work was published in the journal PeerJ.

Dr. Leisnham and colleagues also continued their research on the linkages between the social and institutional processes behind residential abandonment, urban ecology, and the interactions of socio-ecological processes with abiotic drivers of Ae. albopictus production. This research was published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. Specifically, the relative roles of infrastructure degradation, vegetation, and rainfall were tested for explaining the presence of Ae. albopictus to better predict spatial heterogeneity in mosquito exposure risk within urban Baltimore. One key result was that Ae. albopictus was more common on blocks with greater abandonment, but when precipitation was low, was more likely to be found in higher-income neighborhoods with managed container habitat. Likewise, although increased vegetation was a negative predictor of mosquito infestation, more vegetation on blocks with high abandonment was associated with the largest Ae. albopictus populations.

Drs. Leisnham and Fonseca collaborated with colleagues to identify and assess spatial patterns of host-use by Ae. albopictus and other urban mosquitoes Baltimore across heterogeneous socio-economic and ecological conditions. This work was published in the journal Parasites and Vectors.

Dr. Laura Harrington continued experiments to understand winter egg survival under different temperatures. Additionally, data on winter temperature in diapause habitats were recorded with data loggers in three field sites in the Lower Hudson River Valley, NY that have well established Asian tiger mosquito populations. Mosquito control personnel in these regions to collaborate with were identified on this project. Follow up surveys will further characterize the current zone of infestation for this species in NYS.

Dr. Leisnham is conducting a similar but independent study comparing seasonal changes in summer and winter temperatures among common artificial container habitats in the field (i.e., used tire, plastic cup, pottery planter, plastic corrugated tubing, plastic bucket) using data loggers. Data was also collected on Ae. albopictus oviposition activity. Preliminary data from the first year of the study indicate potentially important variation in the seasonal temperature profiles among different container types that may affect larval survival and development in the summer and egg survival in the winter.

Dr. Hammer is continuing work on socio-ecological dynamics and citizen science in border communities.

Drs. Dan Kline and Paul Leisnham are working with mosquito control districts in New Jersey (Dr. Isik Unlu, Mercer Co.) and Florida (James McNelly, Volusia Co.) to understand geographical variation in the seasonal patterns of Ae. albopictus oviposition and egg ecology, and to develop more accurate degree-day models for northern vs. southern populations. Weekly ovitrapping was conducted from the spring through early fall in 2015 at two sites in the north (New Jersey and Maryland) and two sites in Florida. Ovitrapping has continued into 2016 for the two sites in Florida. The data is currently being analyzed.

Dr. Londono talked about the efforts in her lab to develop human-vector contact markers using whole salivary gland extract and specific mosquito salivary peptides in ELISA based test. Her lab is currently evaluating the relevance of IgG antibody levels against salivary proteins to evaluate and predict the risk of disease in endemic areas.

Objective 4: This research cluster focuses on the development of mosquito control and management tools for maintaining mosquito populations below nuisance levels and/or below epidemic levels for disease transmission. This includes a broad-based approach to new toxicant discovery, screening of compounds derived from natural products, and evaluation of registered compounds for mosquitocidal activity.  In addition, we are exploring gene silencing using RNAi technology as a method to knock down critical proteins in adult and larval mosquitoes with possible applications for control. Microsporidian parasites are known to infect many mosquitoes worldwide, but fundamental knowledge on the genomes of mosquito microsporidia and host-pathogen interactions are poorly known. These products will complement and expand the comprehensive scientific literature regarding operational technologies for mosquito surveillance and control that is already in existence. 

Dr. Dobson has implemented Wolbachia trials to control Ae.albopictus in California and initial results are promising.

Dr. Vaidyanathan and Dr. Becnel are investigating the application of dsRNA technologies for potential mosquito control efforts.

Dr. Leisnham is evaluating the effectiveness of different strategies for community outreach for vector control interventions.  He has identified a number of public misconceptions ranging from mosquitoes vectoring HIV to a great fear of male mosquito releases that have consequences on the implementation of control efforts. Leisnham and his MS student, Kanoko Maeda, completed a study to examine the potential of disconnected downspouts at providing important developmental habitat to urban mosquitoes in two residential watersheds in Maryland, as well as the social factors that may influence mosquito production in both disconnected gutters and other container habitats. The key result was that disconnected downspouts had much lower mosquito abundances when compared to other types of water-holding containers, including trash cans, tarps, or trash, and abundances of other containers and not disconnected downspouts were a predictor of household mosquito abundances. A knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) questionnaire revealed that respondent age predicted container source reduction when controlling for other factors, with younger respondents (<50 years old) less likely to undertake this practice. This study concludes that disconnected gutters are unlikely to be an important mosquito developmental habitat compared to other containers in our study watersheds, and that source reduction education and outreach should target younger residents.

Dr. Dina Fonseca is testing the success of a new model of urban mosquito control. The key innovation is the mobilization of neighbors guided by scientific advisors, an approach she termed Citizen Action through Science (Citizen AcTS). This approach was tested in a NE US town of approximately 1,000 residential yards infested with the invasive Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, a major nuisance and arboviral vector. They submitted a manuscript reporting a highly significant (76%) reduction in biting pressure that was maintained over time, based on a standard 80% deployment of lethal oviposition traps by residents. The Citizen AcTS model rejects the top-down approach consistently associated with intervention failures. Instead, it works through respectful exchanges among scientists and residents that lead to trust and individual ‘buy-in’ and transferring program ownership to the community. In 2018 three communities in MD, one in Washington DC and two in NJ are developing this approach for urban mosquito control. In NJ, professional mosquito control programs are stepping in as the scientific advisors.

Objective 5: The key outcome will be training and training tools delivered to developing scientists within the field of Medical and Veterinary Entomology. Tools will be (1) a training course in conjunction with one or more Multistate meetings and (2) Publication of a position paper regarding the development of the next generation of scientists within our field.

No new updates.

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