A UF scientist will travel to Australia in March to help fight against invasive mosquito species that carry threats of disease.
Phil Lounibos, a UF professor of entomology, will host a series of lectures in Queensland, Australia. He said Australia is threatened by the Asian tiger mosquito, which lives in the northern part of the country.
He will explain that the Aedes aegypti, or yellow fever mosquito, might get displaced if the Aedes albopictus, or the Asian tiger mosquito, invades the mainland. He is using his findings of the decrease in abundance of the yellow fever mosquito in Florida.
Lounibos found that when male Asian tiger mosquitoes mate with female yellow fever mosquitoes, the females become sterilized.
“This has been the immediate cause of the decline of Aedes aegypti, not only in Florida, but in probably other parts of the world,” Lounibos said.
Lounibos said Australia and Florida have comparable tropical and subtropical climates, and they both have extensive coastlines, making them vulnerable to the arrival of exotic animals and plants arriving by boats and ships.
This can bring diseases like Chikungunya and dengue fever. Roxanne Connelly, a UF associate professor of entomology, said there were outbreaks of dengue, a fever that has symptoms similar to the measles, in Florida about 70 years ago.
“Over time it became less of a threat, but still we have the mosquitos here that can transmit the virus that causes dengue,” Connelly said.
Connelly said the problem of invasive vector mosquitos like the yellow fever and Asian tiger mosquito is recent, severe and has become a large focus.
“The switch is more from those pests that really can cause more of a nuisance problem to those that can actually make us sick,” Connelly said.
Connelly said she advises people to wear insect repellent and do yard inspections to get rid of little things that are holding water – and possibly mosquitos.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 2/23/2015 under the headline “UF prof working to eradicate mosquito species in Australia"]
