NZBEL 2020

January 2020 

February 2020 

Happy New Year! and Kia Ora Koutou,

NZBEL has proudly produced two new references for HPOs that can be found in the SMS web page. Sample sheet examplescontains examples on how to enter accurate information into the Online National Mosquito Surveillance Database. Processing tyres trapscontains a complete step by step guide on how to obtain the perfect larval samples to be sent to the lab. We hope you will find them very useful J

March 2020 

April 2020 

Kia Ora Koutou, this month we would like to express our gratitude to all of you that are dedicating your time and effort to help protect us all from COVID 19. We also want to say a big thanks to the Public Heath Units wonderful people for keeping the mosquito surveillance program up and running.

In the "Know your Mosquito" section, we have a very unusual looking mosquito, scroll down to meet Toxorhynchites brevipalpis. One male belonging to this species was found dead in Porirua.

Kia Ora Koutou, On April the 25^th World Malaria Day was observed. Although tremendous efforts are being made against the disease, there are more than 200 million new cases of malaria each year. Increasing resistance to the older generation drugs means the need for new treatments is increasingly urgent. At present many countries are very close to completely eradicating malaria. However rainy seasons still result in outbreaks in areas with otherwise next to zero cases. This month we have prepared a special issue focused on malaria, including an infographic with key facts about the disease, the Plasmodium life cycle and of course, malaria-related news.

May 2020

June 2020 

Kia ora koutou, In the news this month, read about how urbanization and climate change can impact mosquito-borne virus transmission in West Africa. Also in Africa, researchers have found that an indoor residual spray made by combining a type of volcanic glass with water is an effective control of mosquitoes. Following that, read about the current situation in South Asia and Latin America where the fight is not just against COVID-19, but against dengue as well. Finally, watch an interview with Timothy C. Winegard, author of The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator

Kia Ora Koutou, We hope you enjoyed the great mozzie quiz last month. Would you like to learn what question most people got incorrect? Well scroll down and find out!

In the news this month, read about how the Zika virus alters genes of babies whose mothers were infected while pregnant. Next, learn about the plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida. Also in the USA, the mosquito season is beginning, and Eastern Equine Encephalitis has been detected in mosquito samples in Massachusetts. Following that, learn about a Dengue outbreak in Indonesia and a Zika outbreak in Brazil, happening simultaneously during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, read about how Hydroxychloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria, fails to prevent COVID-19.

July 2020

August 2020 

Kia Ora Koutou, even though it was through a computer screen, it was great to meet some of you during the Border Health Course. In preparation for the course, the NZB lab created some training resources, including informative quizzes that will be available through the upcoming newsletters, starting this month with the “Adult trap processing quiz”.

Kia Ora Koutou, World Mosquito Day is observed annually on the 20th August in commemoration of British doctor Sir Ronald Ross, who discovered in 1897 that malaria is transmitted between humans through the bite of female mosquitoes, and laid the foundation for the method of combating the disease. In the mosquito of the month section and in line with the focus of world mosquito day, we want to call attention to the urban malaria vector: Anopheles stephensi which is spreading rapidly through Africa. 

September 2020 

October 2020 

Kia Ora Koutou, this week SMS will be providing the “Medical vectors surveillance workshop” in Auckland and online. We hope attendees are getting ready to share their experiences and knowledge around mosquito surveillance and also preparing to take notes on the MoH latest recommendations and updates. In the news this month, closer to New Zealand, Australian scientists are looking at the history of aircraft disinsection to highlight the challenges and underline the need for updated evidence to support continuing aircraft disinsection. And more...

Kia Ora Koutou, It was great meeting many of you during the "Medical Vectors Surveillance Workshop" in Auckland. We hope the attendees enjoyed the workshop as much as we did. We also hope attendees are using some of the new skills learned and are sharing the latest updates with their colleagues.In the news this month, Te Papa is calling for citizen scientists to collect mosquitoes from around the country to help understand their distribution and spread. RNZ Critter of the Week with Jesse Mulligan aired an interview with Doc's Nicola Toki featuring Culex rotoruae, the Hot Pool Mosquito and more...

November 2020 

December 2020 

Kia Ora Koutou, Thank you to all Public Health people for your patience, feedback and support while we have been updating the database. In the news this month read about the results researchers obtained while studying the effects on Plasmodium infection on mosquito attraction, an international group of researchers found that Chikungunya can infect the central nervous system and more. We wish you all a safe and happy time over the Christmas and new year break. As always the on-call entomologist is available throughout the period including public holidays.

Kia Ora Koutou,

Happy New Year everybody! We hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing time during the holiday's break. You may have noticed that when creating a new sample in the database, there is a new tab labelled Weather Conditions. This tab has been added as a reminder that this information is to be recorded every time you do any mosquito sampling activity. Climatic conditions are key predictors for insect abundance and location suitability for the establishment of introduced species or the spread of already present species. If you have any questions regarding the record of the weather conditions please contact the NZB lab.