PACVEC IN ACTION

Vector surveillance and control with Dr. Geoff Attardo and Dr. Olivia Winokur

Students at UC Davis are gaining hands-on experience in vector surveillance and control this quarter in a course taught by Dr. Geoff Attardo and Dr. Olivia Winokur. Last week, students went into the field to sample mosquitoes with Dr. Sarah Wheeler and Dr. Mario Novelo Canto of the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Mosquito and Vector Control District. Next, they’ll learn how to identify what they caught, and how to make data-driven control decisions.

2024 HAWAI’I STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH’S VECTOR CONTROL BRANCH VISITS CALIFORNIA

A team of six vector control specialists, entomologists, and epidemiologists from the Hawaii Department of Health (Dr. Jeomhee Hasty, Mark Nakama, Kekoa Pasion-Almeida, Kevin Laeda, Bruce Mackey, and Angelica Tangalin) visited California from June 4-6, 2024, to exchange ideas and gain field and lab experience with California partners. The visit included ride-alongs, tours, and training with the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District to learn about district surveillance and control operations, meetings with the California Department of Public Health’s Vector-Borne Disease Section’s Sacramento and Elk Grove staff to discuss response plans for invasive mosquitoes and local dengue cases, and meetings at UC Davis to discuss ongoing research, surveillance testing, and needs for VectorSurv tools for data management and visualization. Thank you to the Hawaii Dept. of Health for taking time to visit, and thanks to our amazing California partners who organized and hosted activities for the week. Special thanks to Dr. Sarah Wheeler, Dr. Vicki Kramer, David Smith, Marty Scholl, Dr. Mark Novak, Dr. Geoff Attardo, Tim Valdepena, Dr. Chris Barker, and Dr. Olivia Winokur. We look forward to continuing these collaborations!

2023 PACIFIC VECTOR CONTROL AND OUTBREAK RESPONSE TRAINING

PacVec partnered with the Pacific Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA), Pacific Vector Network (PVN), Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH), and the Hawaii Invasive Species Council (HISC) to host the 2023 Pacific Vector Control and Outbreak Response Training in Hilo, Hawaii, from September 11-15, 2023. More than 50 participants from 20 Pacific Island Countries and Territories and the state of Hawaii received hands-on training in mosquito identification, CDC bottle bioassay resistance testing, ULV sentinel cage trial set up and evaluation, insecticide application safety, use of different trap types, dengue virus response plan development, and online data entry. The week concluded with a tabletop exercise to develop and share strategies for disease outbreak and invasive mosquito response. All participants had many opportunities for networking and peer learning from colleagues throughout the region. PacVec is excited about the growing capacity for outbreak response in the Pacific and excited to continue working together to prevent vector-borne disease in the region. Thank you to all who joined the training and helped with organization!

2022 PACVEC TRAINING FOR THE USAPIS

The Pacific Vector Training on Mosquitoes for the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPIs) of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and the Republic of Palau was a week-long training between May 2nd and May 6th, 2022 at the Pacific Island Regional Vector Laboratory (PIRVeL) located at the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services, Division of Environmental Health (DPHSS-DEH) in Guam.

Representatives from PacVec, the University of California, Davis, Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU), and the Pacific Island Health Officers’ Association (PIHOA) conducted the training that was attended by 23 vector control supervisors and staff from the Guam DPHSS-DEH, CNMI Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation’s Bureau of Environmental Health, and the Republic of Palau Ministry of Health and Human Services, Division of Environmental Health.

PACVEC TRAINING 2022

PACVEC IN ACTION

Dr. Andrés M López-Pérez and a team of three students trapping and collecting fleas and ticks from wild carnivores (coyotes and bobcats) in Baja California, Mexico during the summer of 2021. The study aimed to better understand the ecology of tick and flea-borne diseases across the western US-Mexico border and whether wild carnivores could participate in the transmission of vectors and pathogens.

Dr. Laura Backus and other members of the Foley lab trapping lagomorphs (rabbits and hares) in Baja California, Mexico during the summer of 2021. They collected ectoparasites from them, and did testing for rickettsial pathogens.

The UC Davis and Madera County Mosquito and Vector Control District team beginning field work to study Aedes aegypti resting behavior and diel activity in Madera, California.

Pictured (top row left to right): Teresa Hamilton (Madera County MVCD), Gabriela Novo de Oliveira, Olivia Winokur, Malak Saleh, Christopher Barker (UC Davis Barker lab), Trinidad Reyes (Madera County MVCD); (bottom row left to right): Istvan Menyhay, Sarah Abusaa (UC Davis Barker lab).

UC Davis undergraduate student Malak Saleh aspirating a resting box as part of a study to understand microhabitat availability and thermal preferences of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the central valley of California (study led by UC Davis PhD candidate Olivia Winokur).

The Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases is supported through Cooperative Agreement Number 1U01CK000649 between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the University of California, Davis.