New Mexico State University researchers plan to place mosquito traps across roughly two-thirds of the state to map the range of two species known to transmit Zika virus. Biologist Kathryn Hanley says researchers asked to do this project four years ago but funding agencies had little interest. The Albuquerque Journal (http://goo.gl/3iAygn ) reports that changed when Zika was linked to severe birth defects in Brazil and other nations in the Americas.
BC-NM--Zika-Mapping Mosquitoes/139
Eds: APNewsNow.
Mosquito traps to be deployed to study possible Zika impact
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State University researchers plan to place mosquito traps across roughly two-thirds of the state to map the range of two species known to transmit Zika virus.
Biologist Kathryn Hanley says researchers asked to do this project four years ago but funding agencies had little interest.
The Albuquerque Journal (http://goo.gl/3iAygn ) reports that changed when Zika was linked to severe birth defects in Brazil and other nations in the Americas.
The project is funded by a $90,000 contract with the New Mexico Department of Health. The work is intended to help health officials plan for the possibility of local Zika infections and reduce infection risks.
Traps will be placed in 24 of New Mexico's 33 counties.
Hanley and geography professor Michaela Buenemann will conduct the research with graduate students.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
