i need to read this please

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Ooo, that picture made me itch! :D

I'm getting very concerned about Zika. We were in Jamaica in '14, and I'm pretty sure I came down with Chikungunya. It hit me the day we got home.

What's with all these viruses and mosquitos now? I don't remember all these threats growing up.

i usually have those bold letters in green, but for some reason, not in this entry so i did click on roselee's green "article" and read it thank you very much

i would like to read further on what negative results from killing off all the mosquitoes would present ....on the other hand, the zika virus would be absolutely terrifiying to any woman of childbearing age including my daughters and granddaughters and there is no place to go to absolutely free of these creatures...

i for sure will be researching the positives of the mosquito population for a more objective view than i now have....

Very interesting article. My sister said that there are no bees in most of Alaska and mosquitos are the major pollinator there. My mother had malaria. She loved her gin and quinine.

The article mentioned that the huge mosquito swarms that occur in the north are the sole food source for birds in certain seasons and that there is no other known source of food that could take their place.

Have also read that the the males subsist on nectar thus pollinating plants as Mara mentions, and that the only time the female takes a blood meal is when she has eggs to nourish.

It's thought that if certain mosquitoes that are the most common disease carriers are eliminated that one of the other 300 plus varieties of mosquito would, and have in certain cases where their territories overlap, become carriers. Some researchers are working on ways to keep the disease from living within the mosquito and being transmitted from it's bite.

The article states that if all mosquitoes are wiped from the face of the earth who knows what other even worse pest might arise to take its place. As bad as they are there's lots of things to consider before killing all mosquitoes.

However, the goal of The Carter Center is to totally eradicate guinea worms from the face of the earth without a second thought. Now that's a fascinating story for ya' ...

Same for the cicadas that come out every 13 or 17 years or any number in between. So many of them that birds and other insects and animals that eat them are gorged. So while humans may not like it when that kind of thing happens, it is good for the predators that eat them.

Well, at the same time, I suppose there is no reason humans can't dine on the cicadas, at least!

Speaking of dining on cicadas, my cousin sent me some chocolate flavored energy bars with crickets as the protein source. Not bad, but since I am off of sugar they were a little too sweet for my taste.

More from Smithsonian:

A common bacteria that infects mosquitoes seems to prevent them from carrying more deadly diseases.

Seems like time and money would be better spent developing a vaccine. There are just too many mosquitoes in the world to think of eliminating every one of them.

Very interesting article.

Here is an interesting eleven minute video on what Brazil is doing to combat the Zika virus that's carried by mosquitoes. We can take some tips from it.

"Watch Mosquito Hunter — a FRONTLINE digital
exclusive documentary that brings you an on-the-ground look at one of the
Brazilian government’s primary efforts to fight Zika: a door-to-door campaign
aimed at eradicating the virus-carrying mosquitoes before they hatch.

"It's a daunting task in a country where standing water abounds,
giving mosquitoes endless opportunities to breed.

"You’ll meet George, a biologist who spends his days going
house-to-house, trying to educate families about how to safely store water.
You’ll meet Crislene, whose daughter was born with microcephaly — a severe birth
defect that has been linked to Zika. You’ll learn that, while Brazil is spending
millions to try to eradicate mosquitoes door-to-door, it has cut funding to
improve access to running water — and you’ll see, firsthand, exactly why that
matters."

I finally had enough of being swarmed and bit (numerous bites every time I stepped outside) and when I read that there have been confirmed cases of West Nile locally, bought some mosquito dunks at HD. I really didn't expect them to work, but wow, they do. I'm amazed at how well! I have three problem areas: standing water near an outdoor faucet, bird bath (I wanted something non-toxic to birds), and potted patio ivy that they seemed to love. I broke up the dunks and put them out, and for the ivy, I let a pitcher of water sit overnight with 1/4 of a dunk in it, and use it to water the plant. Wish I'd tried them a long time ago.

It does make me think that perhaps the mosquitoes in my yard are not because I have hidden standing water somewhere, or tall grasses where they like to hide out. Maybe they are hanging around for the flowers!!

What's interesting is that on the flip side Wolbachia tend to increase negative side effects in heartworm-infested dogs. wolbachia and HW disease

Lin, that's interesting. The wolbachia bacteria that works to keep malaria from being as infectious is harmful to dogs when they are treated for heart worm. Nothing is as simple as it seems. We never know all the side effects of anything we do, or even say, so we just do the best we can as far as we know at the time.

So do you think chlorine dunks, like the ones you put in your toilet tank would slow down mosquitoes in standing water? I have 3 tanks and only one can really be covered. The smallest one is only 55 gallons, so I thought about emptying it, covering the middle sized one, and doing the best I could to make it a long drive for the skeeters to get into the big one. What do y'all think?

I watched this last night:

http://www.pbs.org/spillover-zika-ebola-beyond/watch-videos/

Lynn Marie, I'm not sure about chlorine. I use the mosquito dunks because they're supposed to be organic, and non-toxic to everything except mosquito larva. What is the water in your tanks used for?

They are definitely non-toxic to my frogs......................I have been using them for years in my small pond (they have been very effective), with no damage to the frogs that live there. I recommend them.

Lynn Marie in answer to your question I'm not sure that you could add enough toilet cleaner dunks to the water to kill mosquito larvae or that it would last long in your containers since chlorine dissipates quickly in the presence of air. Even if they have a stabilizing chemical in them it may not preserve enough chlorine to keep the water clear of mosquito larvae. Also don't think mosquitoes mind a long drive to get down to the water.

The only thing I know of other than the mosquito dunks, or those little mosquito eating fish, is to put a thin film of oil on top of the water. A friend of mine sprayed just a tiny bit of WD-40 to her water storage bins and it killed them. Mosquito larvae have to come to the surface for air and the oil stops up their breathing tube.

Dawn dish washing soap was recommended to me, but I still found mosquito larvae in the birdbath to which had been added what I thought was a sufficient amount of soap to kill them, but not enough to harm the birds. Hours later the larvae were still swimming around. Then as a test I put in a 'sufficient amount' of Clorox bleach. Same result. Guess it takes a lot more of either to do the job. Also tried Epsom salts. It didn't kill them either.

Anybody else have some ideas on this?