Low-Tech Trap Might Help Fight Zika Virus Outbreaks, CDC says

by Maggie Fox, NBC News, 5/11/16

A low-tech mosquito trap might help control the mosquitoes that spread Zika virus, as well as other viruses such as dengue and chikungunya, government researchers said Tuesday.

The traps cut in half the number of cases of chikungunya when they were used in a few neighborhoods in Puerto Rico over the winter, a team at Puerto Rico’s health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
CDC and the Puerto Rico Department of Health designed this simple bucket trap to control Aedes aegypti mosquitoes CDC

“We think if it’s effective against chikungunya virus transmission, then it should be effective against transmission of other pathogens, such as dengue and Zika viruses,” said Tyler Sharp, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s dengue branch in Puerto Rico.

The trap uses no pesticides or chemical attractants. The mosquitoes can develop resistance to insecticides and have done so in parts of Puerto Rico. …

read more at NBC News

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