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Posted on 10/08/2002 5:31:09 PM PDT by CJinVA
Mosquitoes Were On Uninhabited Island
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Researchers say mosquitoes infected with malaria were trapped on an uninhabited island in Montgomery County, Md., on the Potomac River.
Dr. Carol Garvey, Montgomery County's health director, said that a decision will be made in the next 48 hours on whether to spray insecticide in areas where malaria-infected mosquitoes may be breeding.
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan plans to seek advice from health and environmental officials before making a decision, health officials said.
The infected mosquitoes were found in traps set on Selden Island by federal researchers last week after malaria was diagnosed in two teenagers in nearby Virginia and pools of infected mosquitoes were found in the Virginia suburbs.
Garvey said that two of the 10 traps contained mosquitoes with the same type of malaria parasite that sickened the Virginia teenagers. It is less lethal than the parasite that kills more than 1 million people worldwide each year, she said. Both teenagers have recovered, health officials said.
Garvey said the risks of malaria could be minimized with the same precautions used to avoid West Nile disease. They include using insect repellent with DEET, wearing long-sleeved shirts and avoiding outdoor activities at dusk and dawn.
She said that malaria symptoms, including fever, chills, sweats and a headache, usually occur in seven to 30 days. Although about 1,200 cases of malaria are reported in the United States each year, almost all of the victims are infected while overseas, experts said.
No vaccines exist for malaria, a parasite that is transmitted by mosquitoes from the blood of one human to another.
Selden Island is a crescent-shaped slice of Maryland that lies on what is predominantly the Virginia side of the Potomac. The island is about 2 miles long, is accessible only by a small highway bridge and is used as a turf farm.
Although the island is uninhabited, the infected mosquitoes were found about a quarter-mile from homes in Virginia, said Don Roberts, who led the mosquito research team from the Bethesda-based Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
We were talking this afternoon and he asked me “How do you think the mosquitoes on this little island got infected with malaria?” “Do ya think the immigrants brought it up with them from South America?”
West Nile Virus- some basic information--
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