{"id":7166,"date":"2021-02-08T16:26:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=7166"},"modified":"2021-02-08T16:26:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:26:34","slug":"el-descubrimiento-de-un-nuevo-mosquito-en-la-bahia-de-guantanamo-revela-como-la-globalizacion-amenaza-con-desencadenar-la-proxima-pandemia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=7166","title":{"rendered":"El descubrimiento de un nuevo mosquito en la bah\u00eda de Guant\u00e1namo revela c\u00f3mo la globalizaci\u00f3n amenaza con desencadenar la pr\u00f3xima pandemia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Las enfermedades transmitidas por mosquitos matan a m\u00e1s de 1 mill\u00f3n de personas e infectan a casi\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldmosquitoprogram.org\/en\/learn\/mosquito-borne-diseases#:~:text=Nearly%20700%20million%20people%20contract,more%20than%20one%20million%20deaths.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.worldmosquitoprogram.org\/en\/learn\/mosquito-borne-diseases%23:~:text%3DNearly%2520700%2520million%2520people%2520contract,more%2520than%2520one%2520million%2520deaths.&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1612897591882000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEIb4vVGxzgFUuHire90JeTNHZMvQ\">700 millones<\/a> cada a\u00f1o, casi una de cada 10 personas en la Tierra. El\u00a0mosquito\u00a0<em>Aedes vittatus<\/em>\u00a0, una de las\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-020-74883-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-020-74883-3&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1612897591882000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFh6bj4Tfv5Um1xo1bappVeKF5CbQ\">3.500 especies de mosquitos<\/a> que se encuentran en todo el mundo, se a\u00f1adi\u00f3 a la docena de especies en Am\u00e9rica del Norte que portan par\u00e1sitos o pat\u00f3genos da\u00f1inos para los humanos.\u00a0 Otras especies de mosquitos, como\u00a0<em>Aedes albopictus<\/em>\u00a0y\u00a0<em>Aedes aegypti,<\/em>\u00a0pueden transmitir enfermedades como el dengue, la fiebre amarilla y el chikungunya.\u00a0Pero a diferencia de los dem\u00e1s,\u00a0<em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> es capaz de transmitir casi todas las enfermedades m\u00e1s peligrosas transmitidas por mosquitos, excepto la malaria.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>During the night of 18 June 2019, on the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an intruder was caught in a trap.<\/p>\n<p>Soldiers are accustomed to prisoners wishing to break <em>out<\/em> of Guantanamo. The base is best known as the place where the US indefinitely confines suspects in its \u201cwar on terror\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/pulitzercenter.org\/reporting\/court-rules-guantanamo-detainees-are-not-entitled-due-process\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">without due process or trial<\/a>. For an intruder to make her way in was unusual. Even stranger, no one had ever seen anything like her on this side of the world.<\/p>\n<p>The first witnesses to get a close look described the interloper this way:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Proboscis dark with median spattering of pale yellowish scales.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Wing: Scales mainly dark and narrow on all veins.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And most striking of all: &#8220;Abdomen\u2026 with large median white spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>This story is the part of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/column\/stopping-the-next-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Stopping the Next One<\/em><\/a><em> \u2013 our multimedia series looking at which diseases are most likely to cause the next global pandemic, and at the scientists racing to keep that from happening. Find out more about the series, and read the other stories, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20210111-what-could-the-next-pandemic-be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>here<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The intruder was an <em>Aedes vittatus <\/em>mosquito. One of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-020-74883-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3,500 mosquito species<\/a> found across the globe, it is a new addition to the dozen or so species in North America that carry parasites or pathogens harmful to humans. Other mosquito species, like <em>Aedes albopictus<\/em> and <em>Aedes aegypti, <\/em>can transmit diseases like dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya. But unlike those others, <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> is capable of carrying nearly all of the most dangerous mosquito-borne diseases, except for malaria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing in close contact with these mosquitoes is not good news. They\u2019re breeding in your bird bath and they\u2019re feeding off your kids,\u201d says Yvonne-Marie Linton, research director of the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit and curator of nearly 2 million specimens in the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s US National Mosquito Collection.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> is endemic to the Indian subcontinent and has never been seen in the western hemisphere until now. The mosquito is \u201ca proven vector of chikungunya, Zika, dengue, yellow fever viruses and many other diseases\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0001706X20316521\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the team of scientists who discovered it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7167\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7167\" style=\"width: 758px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7167\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"758\" height=\"947\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito.jpg 758w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 758px) 100vw, 758px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7167\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Aedes vittatus found in Cuba, shown here, has never been seen in the western hemisphere until now (Credit: Ben Pagac)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Most likely, the first specimens traveled here as eggs on a shipping container or possibly aircraft. The species\u2019 likely proliferation across the Caribbean and the southern US will be equally manmade: climate change is shortening North American winters, allowing mosquitoes to breed many more times in a single season and thus spread viruses further afield.<\/p>\n<p>Mosquitoes garner far less attention than, say, the swarms of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-54910098\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">so-called \u201cmurder hornets\u201d first noticed in North America in 2020<\/a>. Originally thought to be from Japan, they spread across America\u2019s Pacific Northwest, killing off honeybee colonies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a parallel between the murder hornet and <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> in that they came from somewhere else \u2013 they are in an area now that they didn\u2019t exist in before,\u201d says Ben Pagac<strong>, <\/strong>an entomologist for the US Army\u2019s Public Health Command who conducts biosurveillance for the military across the Caribbean. He says this is a lesson for the public about the threats human travel and global trade carry by dispersing zoonotic diseases far and wide.<\/p>\n<p>Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than 1 million people and infect nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldmosquitoprogram.org\/en\/learn\/mosquito-borne-diseases#:~:text=Nearly%20700%20million%20people%20contract,more%20than%20one%20million%20deaths.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">700 million<\/a> each year \u2013 almost one out of every 10 people on Earth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body__pull-quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"inline-quote b-font-family-serif b-font-weight-300 inline-quote--future\">\n<h2 class=\"simple-header b-reith-sans-font b-font-family-serif b-font-weight-300 simple-header--serif-light-italic simple-p-tag--medium simple-p-tag--quote\">Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than 1 million people and infect nearly 700 million each year \u2013 almost one out of every 10 people on Earth<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>But they have had a devastating effect for millennia. Historian Timothy C Winegard, author of the 2019 book The Mosquito, believes they even made up an early example of biological warfare: in the Peloponnesian war of 415 to 413 BC, the Spartans lured the Athenians into mosquito-infested swamps. \u201cMalaria killed or incapacitated over 70% of the [Athenian] force,\u201d writes Winegard. Some of the most infamous warriors in history were laid to rest by these biting bugs. Genghis Khan was killed by a mosquito. So, by one theory, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3034319\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alexander the Great<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the<em> Aedes vittatus<\/em> isn\u2019t the first mosquito to wreak havoc on North America. Just a century ago, malaria \u2013 carried by the <em>Anopheles<\/em> mosquito \u2013 was endemic, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4347333\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sickening thousands each year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHuge sections of the American South were malarial swamps before the disease was eliminated from the continental United States,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.matthewpower.net\/s\/HarpersCambodiaMalaria.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> the late journalist Matthew Power. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2016\/10\/after-40-years-most-important-weapon-against-mosquitoes-may-be-failing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iconic images from the 1940s and 1950s<\/a> show men, women and children being sprayed down by the pesticide DDT, now known to be toxic to humans. Today, mosquitoes are kept at bay by more environmentally friendly, but no less stringent, measures. \u201cWetlands are drained, forests are felled, farmers migrate to cities, houses are built with windows,\u201d all to protect us against mosquito-borne diseases, wrote Power.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7168\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7168\" style=\"width: 1174px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7168\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/fumigacion.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1174\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/fumigacion.jpg 1174w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/fumigacion-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/fumigacion-1024x582.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/fumigacion-768x436.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1174px) 100vw, 1174px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7168\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A historic image shows beach-goers being sprayed with the pesticide DDT, now known to be toxic to humans (Credit: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>But as climate change makes North American winters shorter and less cold, Linton and her colleagues warn in their study that mosquitoes may soon cause \u201cdisease outbreaks (that) pose serious threats to public health\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A different war<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to the mosquito, the US military has long been preparing. Having battled mosquitoes in the Pacific during World War Two, the US Military began mosquito research in earnest in the 1950s to 1970s, says Linton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore soldiers were dying in the Vietnam War from mosquito-borne disease than from bullets or combat,\u201d says Linton. Even today, she says, \u201c20 of the top 50 diseases that affect the military are vector-borne\u201d. Many of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2017\/08\/22\/u-s-active-duty-military-presence-overseas-is-at-its-smallest-in-decades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nearly 200,000 US service members currently stationed abroad<\/a> are deployed to tropical areas where they\u2019ve never been before \u2013 meaning they have no immunity to the area\u2019s pathogens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body__pull-quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"inline-quote b-font-family-serif b-font-weight-300 inline-quote--future\">\n<h2 class=\"simple-header b-reith-sans-font b-font-family-serif b-font-weight-300 simple-header--serif-light-italic simple-p-tag--medium simple-p-tag--quote\">The Americas were malaria-free for thousands of years before Europeans arrived \u2013 Sonia Shah<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Five hundred years ago, the situation was the reverse. It was Christopher Columbus and his European followers who introduced mosquitoes to the so-called New World, unleashing new pathogens on the continent\u2019s inhabitants. &#8220;Scientists agree that the Americas were malaria-free for thousands of years before Europeans arrived,&#8221; writes Sonia Shah in her book The Fever<em>.<\/em> &#8220;When colonists from England arrived in the early 1600s, they had parasites roosting in their veins, and they encountered a land teeming with mosquitoes and wetlands, much more so than today. Swamp, bog, wetland and marsh covered more than 220 million acres of the region that would become the United States.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Soon, those parasites spread from the colonisers to the mosquitoes \u2013 and back to people. Ships sailing from the Caribbean carried mosquitoes that spread yellow fever and malaria up the Atlantic coast. The diseases devastated Native American communities. They impacted British colonists as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrior to the American Revolution, there were at least 30 major yellow fever epidemics in the British North American colonies, striking every major urban centre and port on the 1,000-mile stretch of seaboard from Nova Scotia to Georgia,\u201d writes Winegard. He believes that the impact of yellow fever on British forces may have \u201cultimately decided the fate of the revolution\u201d.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7169\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7169\" style=\"width: 775px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vacuna.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"775\" height=\"886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vacuna.jpg 775w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vacuna-262x300.jpg 262w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vacuna-768x878.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7169\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Widespread DDT use in the 1940s and 1950s saw a reduction in mosquito-borne disease, though DDT spraying brought many negative consequences (Credit: Science Photo Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Thanks to widespread DDT spraying and other measures, such as the draining of swamps, the 20th Century saw enormous reductions in mosquito-borne disease. But since 1999, outbreaks of new diseases never before seen in North America have once again brought mosquitoes into the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>First, there was the West Nile virus, which jumped from infected birds to mosquitoes to humans, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3111838\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">killing hundreds of Americans between 1999 and 2003<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/westnile\/statsmaps\/preliminarymapsdata2020\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hundreds of cases per year still occur today<\/a>. Then it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-50487724\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dengue fever<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/zika\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zika virus<\/a>, the latter of which can cause microcephaly among infants. In 2013, an outbreak of chikungunya, which causes debilitating fever and joint pain, spread across Latin America, sickening <a href=\"https:\/\/webcache.googleusercontent.com\/search?q=cache:wEknGb4ktVEJ:https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2014\/p1106-chikungunya-outbreak.html+&amp;cd=3&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nearly 800,000<\/a> people across 31 countries, including at least 1,600 travelers to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Events like the 2013-14 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-latin-america-28123674\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chikungunya outbreak in the Caribbean<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-latin-america-35368401\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2015-16 Zika outbreak<\/a> in Brazil are expected to become more and more frequent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFifty years ago, there were no vectors of those big diseases\u201d in the western hemisphere, says Linton. \u201cThe Caribbean got hit by these invasive viruses because it had established populations of these dangerous, invasive mosquitoes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By the time a zoonotic outbreak escalates into an epidemic, it\u2019s often already too late to control. \u201cIt\u2019s unexpected. It happens like Covid-19 happened. It takes everybody by surprise, and therefore there\u2019s no mitigation in place,\u201d says Linton. And when governments react by trying to purchase and distribute necessary medicines or medical equipment, they often find everyone else is scrambling for the same products, she says.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7170\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7170\" style=\"width: 1192px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1192\" height=\"646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bb.jpg 1192w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bb-300x163.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bb-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bb-768x416.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1192px) 100vw, 1192px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jackeline holds her four-month-old son, who was born with microcephaly, in Brazil during the 2016 Zika outbreak (Credit: Nacho Doce\/Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>That\u2019s why we need to be prepared, says Linton, by doing what\u2019s known as biosurveillance: \u201cactively looking for those vectors which might be problematic\u201d. \u201cUnless you know your enemy, you\u2019re never going to be able to tackle it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>This is her job. Linton is tasked with identifying, classifying and assessing the risks posed by mosquitoes to US soldiers both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s how we ended up finding what we found in Cuba,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enter the <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since 2016, preventive medicine specialists have collected mosquito samples around the base at Guantanamo Bay. Each week, a technician puts down a mosquito trap, usually next to soldiers\u2019 and civilians\u2019 sleeping quarters. The trap attracts mosquitoes with light; when they hover nearby, a fan sucks them in. Sometimes, the haul is as many as 3,000 of the insects.<\/p>\n<p>Once roughly sorted, technicians put them into tubes and send them to a US army lab at Fort Meade, Maryland, where researchers continue to sort the specimens by hand.\u00a0<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople get very good at recognising the mosquitoes that they see every day, like the typical Asian tiger mosquito [<em>Aedes albopictus<\/em>] or <em>Aedes aegypti<\/em>, which have distinct black and white markings that stand out in the pots,\u201d says Linton.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7171\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7171\" style=\"width: 1168px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/picando.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1168\" height=\"652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/picando.jpg 1168w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/picando-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/picando-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/picando-768x429.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1168px) 100vw, 1168px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7171\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Aedes albopictus has been a vector for dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya in Asia and is now in nearly every country on the planet (Credit: Smith Collection\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Mosquitoes that can\u2019t be identified visually are sent for DNA testing. That\u2019s what happened in June 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLooking through the microscope, there was one that looked a little different. So I zoomed in on it,\u201d said Pagac. \u201cIt had a pattern on the thorax, the back of it, that was completely different than anything I had seen before\u201d \u2013 those eye-catching white spots.<\/p>\n<p>When Pagac and a colleague looked the species up, they realised it was <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em>. \u201cThat made our eyes go wider \u2013 not only is this an oddity but it could have some pretty significant health implications,\u201d Pagac says. Immediately, Pagac phoned Linton.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7172\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7172\" style=\"width: 775px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7172\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"775\" height=\"973\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito2.jpg 775w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito2-239x300.jpg 239w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mosquito2-768x964.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7172\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Aedes vittatus is also a vector for dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya and is new to the Americas (Credit: Ben Pagac)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>The next day the two were at her lab outside Washington DC, examining the mosquito under a microscope.<\/p>\n<p>To try to determine where these particular specimens came from, they compared the specimens\u2019 DNA barcode signature to other <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> populations from all over the world \u2013 Kenya, Ghana, India. The most likely result was India.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew that was not a good thing,\u201d says Linton. \u201cI knew it was invasive, knew it had not been found in America before [and that] it\u2019s a very effective vector of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The mosquito\u2019s discovery raised an important question \u2013 could this Guantanamo Bay intruder be the culprit of the recent outbreaks of Zika, dengue, or other mosquito-borne diseases appearing in the Caribbean?<\/p>\n<p><strong>World on the move<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To find out, Linton and her team first needed to figure out how it arrived in Guantanamo in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Natural events such as hurricanes have been known to move mosquitoes from one Caribbean island to the next. But humans, with their trucks, ships and airplanes, can unwittingly transport small disease vectors like mosquitoes farther and faster than any storm.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7173\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7173\" style=\"width: 1163px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7173\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/barco.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1163\" height=\"653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/barco.jpg 1163w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/barco-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/barco-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/barco-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1163px) 100vw, 1163px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7173\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Humans can unwittingly transport disease-carrying mosquitoes around the globe (Credit: Anthony Wallace\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Linton and Pagac also knew that <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> was what entomologists call a \u201ccontainer breeder\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir eggs can tolerate desiccation, they can be moved around \u2013 and as soon as they hit water, they emerge,\u201d says Linton. \u201cAnd if it\u2019s a warm, wet climate, they will survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This trait reminded Linton of another mosquito species that spread in the same manner over the last 40 years: <em>Aedes albopictus<\/em>, the Asian tiger mosquito. In Southeast Asia, it had been a vector for dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Then, in 1979, some of its eggs were inadvertently transported to Albania on a shipment of used tires, which often sit around in junkyards or ports collecting water \u2013 the perfect habitat for mosquito eggs to hatch. \u201cSince then, the mosquito has traveled and established itself in almost every country in the world,\u201d Linton says.<\/p>\n<p>All of a sudden, entire continents were plagued with a new vector of existing zoonotic diseases. Africa already had <em>Aedes aegypti<\/em>, which also can transmit dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika, says Linton. \u201cSo now you have two massive vectors in the same place. The chances of maintaining an outbreak become higher and higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Linton and her colleagues believe the same may now be happening with <em>Aedes vittatus.<\/em> Cuba, after all, is an island \u2013 and shipping containers are the perfect way to transport not only goods, but, inadvertently, mosquito eggs.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Stopping the <em>vittatus<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Immediately upon identifying the mosquito, US Navy Preventative Medicine Unit personnel at Guantanamo Bay began weekly sprayings of two residential areas near the spot where the first specimens were found. They also began collecting more samples in more locations, employing special traps that use dry ice to emit carbon dioxide \u2013 which is what attracts mosquitoes to the human body \u2013 to entrap more mosquitoes at a time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7174\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7174\" style=\"width: 994px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7174\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bebida.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"994\" height=\"658\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bebida.jpg 994w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bebida-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/bebida-768x508.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 994px) 100vw, 994px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7174\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A member of the surveillance team prepares mosquito traps at the US Navy Station in Guantanamo Bay (Credit: Alexandra Spring)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Still, the mosquitoes kept coming. In December 2019, <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> larvae were found in a bird bath less than 50m from the original test site. When they were metamorphosed by scientists in a lab, they produced 10 male specimens and seven females. On 24 February 2020, another female <em>vittatus<\/em> was found in a trap, followed by four more mosquitoes on 2 March, one a kilometre from where the original specimens were found.<\/p>\n<p>On 18 April, scientists\u2019 fears that the mosquito may be proliferating even beyond Cuba came true when two specimens were discovered in the Dominican Republic, 260 kilometres east of Cuba. Even more alarming, these specimens didn\u2019t share the same molecular makeup of the ones from Guantanamo. Rather, these intruders seem to have been <em>independently<\/em> transported from Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere seemed to be a global trade route that was bringing these mosquitoes into the Caribbean,\u201d says Linton. She and her colleagues created a \u201ccheat sheet\u201d with diagrams of the <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> and passed it along to entomologists across the Caribbean to enlist their help in identifying whether the species had spread. \u201cThe species could well be hiding in plain sight across other islands,\u201d the scientists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0001706X20316521?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote in their study.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it\u2019s in the Dominican Republic, it\u2019s definitely in Haiti,\u201d says Linton. \u201cWe\u2019re assuming Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and it could be already in Florida\u201d, as well as Texas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7175\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7175\" style=\"width: 764px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7175\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vaso.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"764\" height=\"980\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vaso.jpg 764w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/vaso-234x300.jpg 234w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 764px) 100vw, 764px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7175\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mosquito trap is placed in the field as part of the surveillance programme at Guantanamo Bay (Credit: Ben Pagac)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Unless public health officials and state departments of natural resources act quickly, it may be only a matter of time before these mosquitoes spread across North America. This will require measures such as destroying the habitats where mosquitoes breed, such as by spraying chemicals or bacteria into slow water, emptying stagnant water sources or putting up devices similar to light traps that attract mosquitoes and kill them.<\/p>\n<p>Part of what makes mosquitoes so tricky to control is that \u201cthey can adapt to habitat and human objects\u201d, says Linton. \u201cWe put bird baths in our garden, we have small children\u2019s pools, and this is where this mosquito is found.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Making matters worse, <em>Aedes vittatus <\/em>mosquitoes bite during the day. That means that some personal protection methods most people would think of \u2013 such as closing doors, using mosquito nets on beds at night, or covering up come dusk \u2013 are ineffective.<\/p>\n<p>But Pagac says spraying chemicals alone won\u2019t solve the underlying problem, either. Rather, Americans may need to get used to incorporating preventative measures into their daily lives, such as regularly emptying kiddie pools, flowerpot basins and plastic toys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the way you really address mosquitoes,\u201d Pagac says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Climate change<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Military movements or industrial shipping may have brought <em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> to the western hemisphere. But human-accelerated climate change is helping the species \u2013 which loves warm, wet weather, exactly the kind that many regions are seeing more of \u2013 continue to thrive.<\/p>\n<p>A mosquito will lay eggs about 36 hours after biting its host and, if the host was infected, can pass along the virus. It will produce 100-120 eggs that will hatch already carrying the disease.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7176\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7176\" style=\"width: 1186px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7176\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cintas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1186\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cintas.jpg 1186w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cintas-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cintas-1024x580.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cintas-768x435.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1186px) 100vw, 1186px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7176\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Entomologist Alexandra Spring examines strips containing mosquito eggs as part of the Guantanamo Bay surveillance programme (Credit: Ben Pagac)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Normally, there may be six new mosquito generations in a given year. But that\u2019s changing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese mild winters, the longer seasons that we\u2019re having \u2013 that means the mosquitoes have a chance to do 10 generations instead of six,\u201d says Linton. \u201cThat means they have more time to acquire viruses\u201d before winter freezes them off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body__pull-quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"inline-quote b-font-family-serif b-font-weight-300 inline-quote--future\">\n<h2 class=\"simple-header b-reith-sans-font b-font-family-serif b-font-weight-300 simple-header--serif-light-italic simple-p-tag--medium simple-p-tag--quote\">These mild winters, the longer seasons that we\u2019re having \u2013 that means the mosquitoes have a chance to do 10 generations instead of six \u2013 Yvonne-Marie Linton<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"body-text-card b-reith-sans-font\">\n<div class=\"body-text-card__text body-text-card__text--future body-text-card__text--flush-text\">\n<div>\n<p>Humans, however, are not helpless. Biosurveillance processes like that in Guantanamo can help us predict, and then head off, where diseases are spread. But unless robust, coordinated biosurveillance programs are funded around the world, by the time a new disease vector is discovered, it may be too far along to stop, says Linton.<\/p>\n<p>Focusing on travel hubs can help. In recent years, England has seen cases of so-called \u201cairport malaria\u201d \u2013 malaria brought in from a mosquito via a flight. Now, airports around the world are equipped with light traps. \u201cToday, eight times more malaria patients arrive at clinics and hospitals across Europe than did in the 1970s,\u201d writes Shah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Aedes vittatus<\/em> might be one of the few examples where we\u2019re ahead of the curve,\u201d says Pagac.<\/p>\n<p>By funding research across the Caribbean and North America, experts like Pagac say, governments could enable scientists to monitor the species\u2019s spread and project where the mosquitoes are headed next.<\/p>\n<p>Only then can national and local governments enact campaigns using known methods like spraying, emptying stagnant water and encouraging people in at-risk areas to protect themselves by wearing long sleeves, pants and bug spray.<\/p>\n<p>In a world reeling from Covid-19, that kind of focus may seem like a difficult challenge. But, he and Linton say, we must not lose this opportunity to \u201cstop the next one\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body__image-text article-body__image-text--landscape\">\n<div><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1600x900\/p0943b1j.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:1200px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1600x900\/p0943b1j.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:1200px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1280x720\/p0943b1j.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:880px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1280x720\/p0943b1j.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:880px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/976x549\/p0943b1j.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:576px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/976x549\/p0943b1j.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:576px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/624x351\/p0943b1j.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:224px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/624x351\/p0943b1j.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:224px)\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-body__image-text article-body__image-text--landscape\">\n<div><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1600x900\/p09438p8.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:1200px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1600x900\/p09438p8.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:1200px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1280x720\/p09438p8.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:880px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/1280x720\/p09438p8.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:880px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/976x549\/p09438p8.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:576px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/976x549\/p09438p8.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:576px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/624x351\/p09438p8.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\" media=\"(min-width:224px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/ychef.files.bbci.co.uk\/624x351\/p09438p8.jpg\" type=\"image\/jpeg\" media=\"(min-width:224px)\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Fuente:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20210115-aedes-vittatus-a-mosquito-that-carries-zika-and-dengue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>https:\/\/www.bbc.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Las enfermedades transmitidas por mosquitos matan a m\u00e1s de 1 mill\u00f3n de personas e infectan a casi\u00a0700 millones cada a\u00f1o, casi una de cada 10&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7178,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166\/revisions\/7178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}