FLICKR, AIR NATIONAL GUARD, SSGT DANIEL J. MARTINEZAt dusk on Thursday (September 14), U.S. Air Force Reserve cargo planes took to the skies over Harris County, Texas, to spray about 600,000 acres around Houston with a potent mosquito-killing insecticide, complementing similar efforts across other counties in Texas affected by Tropical Storm Harvey. Widespread and prolonged flooding in the region has multiplied the insects’ habitats.
“We are hopeful that the spraying will help prevent an increase in mosquito-borne disease,” Chris Van Deusen, director of media relations for the Texas Department of State Health Services, tells The Scientist.
Under normal circumstances, Harris County Public Health deploys trucks that spray insecticide in an area only if a mosquito trapped there carries disease. “But there is nothing normal about Harvey because there’s water everywhere,” says entomologist Mustapha Debboun, the director of mosquito and vector control for Harris County Public Health.
After flooding, an upsurge in the number of mosquitoes is common because eggs laid during previous floods hatch and develop. Van Deusen explains that most of these mosquitoes are a nuisance, but unlikely to cause disease.
The species that carry viruses have slightly ...
