Expert: Standing Water From Harvey May Cause Major Mosquito Infestation

Elray Johnson pushes a cart of food and drinks Thursday to his friends living in north Vidor, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. While several parts of the city are flooded, the northern side received extensive damage. ... Elray Johnson pushes a cart of food and drinks Thursday to his friends living in north Vidor, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. While several parts of the city are flooded, the northern side received extensive damage. (Guiseppe Barranco/The Beaumont Enterprise via AP) MORE LESS
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HOUSTON (AP) — A health expert warns standing water from Harvey could create a boom in the mosquito population and the potential transmission of mosquito-borne diseases.

Joon Lee is a medical entomologist at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. He says Harvey’s floodwaters will wash away immature mosquito populations from their breeding grounds, but they can be quickly re-established in stagnant water. Lee says mosquito populations will likely explode within the next two weeks and will stay for at least a month or two.

Lee says that could be mean increased transmission of potentially life-threatening, mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis. Lee says outbreaks of Zika, dengue fever and Chikungunya are also possible, but those diseases must originate from a person already infected.

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Notable Replies

  1. Between all the chemical’s in the water, the coming mosquito plague, and Donnie & Stiletto coming back, I’d choose the first two options as the far more tolerable. It’s bad enough that Mother Pence let Pencey out in his good play clothes.

  2. Harvey & Irma.

    Sounds like a Jimmy Buffett song.

  3. Buffett’s new album … “Harvey and Irma”

    Playlist:

    1. Harvey and Irma
    2. It Just Blows Me Away
    3. What’s That Dripping. …Can’t Get to Sleep
    4. To Hell With Flipflops … I Need a Boat
    5. Attic Love
    6. Scared To Ride My Board
    7. I Miss Colorado
    8. FEMA Never Paid Me
    9. Down The Drain … Someday

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