Mosquitoes aren't just a nuisance.
Some can spread germs that make people sick like West Nile Virus.
Mosquito control professionals help protect their local communities
by working to reduce the number of mosquitoes in an area.
Effective mosquito control starts with surveillance.
Surveillance includes monitoring mosquitoes disease causing pathogens and host animals
like birds.
This helps us understand what types and how many mosquitoes are in an area
and if they're infected with pathogens, that could make people sick.
To conduct surveillance.
Mosquito control professionals use specialized traps to catch mosquitoes.
Surveillance helps professionals determine if, when, and where control activities
are needed to manage the number of mosquitoes before people start getting sick.
In the 1960s, entomologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Improved upon previous trap models to develop the CDC Light Trap.
The CDC Light Trap is a reliable, lightweight, portable trap
that can capture a variety of live mosquitoes, including many
Aedes, Anopheles and Culex species.
The traps are battery operated and do not require electricity.
Most mosquito control programs in the United States use these traps.
Let's look at how the CDC Light Trap works.
Mosquito traps use an attractant to lure mosquitoes into the trap.
The CDC Light Trap uses two different attractants:
a light and carbon dioxide, usually in the form of dry ice.
However, professionals may choose to use just one of these attractants For example,
the light source can be turned off and just the carbon dioxide used as the attractant.
Doing so limits the number of other insects like moths captured in the trap.
Only using carbon dioxide also decreases the number of male mosquitoes
and increases the number of female mosquitoes that are collected
because only female mosquitoes take a blood meal.
They are the most important mosquito to track when it comes to mosquito borne diseases.
The light trap works best when placed in a dark area with no competing light.
Mosquitoes are attracted to the small light source, or carbon dioxide attractant.
As the mosquitoes get close to the trap, they're forced
into a container through a fan
Light trap components include fan motor,
light, downdraft, fan assembly collection, container, dry ice, power cable for battery
connection or holders for D-Cell batteries, and a cover for the whole system.
Now that you understand how a light trap works, you need to find a place to put it.
Choosing the right location for your traps is important.
Traps should be suspended above the ground in a place
where there is vegetation covering the trap and relatively high humidity.
For example, the edge of a wooded area near a body of water is a good place for your trap.
If you use more than one trap, avoid placing them next to each other.
You should avoid placing traps over open water or open pasture, near buildings
or other sources of artificial light, or in areas exposed to strong winds or industrial fumes.
CDC light traps should be checked daily
and trapped mosquitoes collected and sorted.
To prevent mosquitoes from escaping the trap, remove and tie
the collection container before turning the fan off,
then place the collection container into a cooler or other protective carrier
and deliver to the laboratory or office for processing,
sorting and identification.
The container can be placed into a freezer or exposed to carbon
dioxide long enough to kill the mosquitoes.
If mosquitoes will be tested for disease causing pathogens such as certain viruses,
they'll need to be kept
cold throughout the identification process until they are ready to be tested.
Dead mosquitoes can be emptied from the container onto a cold table or surface
or a tray of ice and then sorted by sex and identified to species.
Combined mosquitoes of the same species
into pools of 1 to 50 individuals and then store in a freezer
for virus testing.
Let's review.
Mosquito control professionals use CDC Light Traps to conduct surveillance,
which helps them make decisions on when and how to take action.
CDC Light Traps use two different attractants to lure mosquitoes:
Light and carbon dioxide.
Traps should be hung above the ground in places
with good vegetation coverage and preferably near standing water.
Traps should not be placed in open spaces near artificial light
or in areas with strong industrial smells which may interfere with the traps.
For more information on CDC light traps and mosquito control,
visit our website www.CDC.gov/mosquitoes.