Chikungunya, dengue, Zika. Americans will be hearing more about these viruses in the coming months as the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that carry the pathogens arrive in parts of the U.S. Controlling A. aegypti populations was among the most-discussed topics during the Zika Action Plan Summit held at the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta today (April 1). “We must implement comprehensive mosquito control strategies & build laboratory capacity,” CDC Director Tom Frieden wrote on Twitter.
Of course, efforts to control these disease vectors are not new. Along with dengue, the yellow fever virus—also transmitted by A. aegypti—was a focus of this 1945 US Public Health Service/Office of Malaria Control in War Areas video, which CDC meeting organizers played during a break between morning sessions today.
