NZBEL 2018

January 2018 

February 2018 

Kia Ora Koutou. This January has broken all the climatic records in New Zealand, with the hottest month on record. This year January has also been the mozziest January registered in the past years (Figure 3). However, it has not been the most numerous month in record, have a look to the last year chart in the December 2017 Border Health Newsletter, and check the larval numbers for March for an example.

March 2018 

April 2018 

Kia Ora Koutou. This month the Ministry of Health has released a new video to launch the campaign with tips on how to prevent mosquito bites. If you travel overseas remember to Fight the bite – day and night! Watch the video here. Mosquito numbers have decreased in comparison to last month, and with the weather getting cooler it seems this tendency will continue over the next few months.
Read more about the Cx.sitiens MPI Response. 

Kia Ora Koutou, it was great to see many of you at the Health Protection Forum in Wellington. It was interesting learning more about all the activities that PHOs are involved in. I noticed that you were all really busy this summer and not only with mosquitoes. Fortunately, mosquito numbers have decreased in comparison to last month, and with the weather getting cooler it seems this tendency will continue over the upcoming winter.

May 2018

June 2018 

Kia Ora Koutou, as the weather continues a generally downward trend towards winter, mosquito numbers have decreased and interceptions have become less frequent over May. No furtherCulex quinquefasciatuslarvae have been found in Queenstown.
In the news this month - scientist have discovered how DEET works and are ready to create new repellents; learn more about mosquitoes that transmit malaria, the Plasmodiumparasite, and how deforestation increases malaria cases; read about the health challenges associated with climate change; about which traits make humans susceptible to chikungunya virus infection and more.

Kia Ora Koutou, as the winter is here our mosquito’s numbers have dropped,no furtherCulex quinquefasciatuslarvae have been found in Queenstown and interceptions have become really scarce with just one non-mosquito detected.

In the news this month, scientist have discovered how mosquitoes are capable of piercing our skin painlessly and are trying to take advantage of it for medical purposes; Primate research centres found relationships between miscarriages and Zika virus infections in pregnant monkeys; Paraguay has been declared Malaria free; a new approach to malaria vaccines has been developed and more!

July 2018 

August 2018 

It was great to meet many of you in Wellington this month. We hope you enjoyed the course and that you are looking forward to using any new skills gained. In the news this month; Scientist alert about the relationship between dams and Anopheles mosquitoes, studies suggest that Anopheles mosquitoes could be eliminated in local areas without impacting the ecosystem; Parasitism by water mites has the potential to be used as biological control for mosquitoes; Mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia successfully controlled mosquitoes in Townsville, Queensland.

Kia Ora Koutou - In the news this month: Scientists are studying the relationship between Aedesmosquito replacement and selective mating behaviour; CBS Newsare drawing attention to an increase of mosquito “disease danger days” due to temperature increases; Researchers warn about mosquitoes becoming resistant to pyrethroid-based insecticides; Sciencepublished an article explaining that malaria infection may make humans more attractive to mosquitoes and the 20^thof August was World Mosquito day.

September 2018 

October 2018 

The 13^thConference of the Mosquito Control Association of Australia was held in Kingscliff, NSW, Australia, gathering experts in mosquito biology, ecology, the diseases they transmit their control and new tecnologies implemented in their management Read more.Below a picture of the New Zealand team that attended the conference. News this month focuses on the fight against malaria: Scientists are releasing male Anophelesin Africa to help reduce malaria. In the new section “Know your mosquito” learn more about Aedes albopictus.

It was great to meet many of you in the Pest and Vectors course this month in Auckland. It is fantastic to put faces to the names of the people you work with every day! This month we have some tips for you to protect yourself from mosquito-borne diseases. The news this month focusses on the importance of public involvement and government diligence when it comes to mosquito control and identification for example, a story from Maryland USA discusses how getting home owners in a suburb of Maryland involved with mosquito trapping has seen a 76% reduction in the Asian tiger mosquito in the neighbourhood! 

November 2018 

December 2018 

Kia Ora Koutou - As some of you may have already heard, Laura has left the lab. We secretly hope she may come back at some point in the future. In any case, we wish her the best. We warmly welcome the new Junior Taxonomist Carolyn Edgecumbe to our team! We are really happy with her progress so far and believe she will do great in the lab. We also thank Julia Kasper for her assistance with the on-call service while Carolyn is getting ready for that. By the way, we would like to congratulate Julia, she has been elected President of the Entomological Society Wellington Branch! 

Kia Ora Koutou - It was a very good year full of learning, great experiences and many mosquitoes. Which month do you think was the mozziest? Scroll down and find the mozzie numbers for 2018.In the news this month, researchers from Hawaii medical school have successfully developed a vaccine candidate for the Zika virus. In West Africa, scientists are deploying balloons to sample mosquitoes which allow the researchers to figure out how high mosquitoes can fly and more.

In the section “Know your mosquito” learn about Fungus Gnats a “non-mosquito” often mistaken for one.