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Final Week

 This week has been extremely busy because we had 14 pools test positive for WNV across 10 towns. So, on top of our typical trapping routes, we also had to go back and trap at the sites that tested positive. We needed all hands on deck to trap this week in order to finish our regular routes and revisit the positive sites. Most of the positive samples were pooled from towns in the Northern route. Two of my towns ( in the Southern route) tested positive (Blackstone and Natick), so I went back to Blackstone to set a new trap (CDC and gravid) and our entomologist went to the my Natick site.  This week, neighboring projects also have found their first cases of EEE in mosquitoes. So far this year, the neighboring projects have found viruses first and we follow, so if the pattern stays the same, we might also find EEE soon.  This is my last week at CMMCP, and I’m definitely feeling a bit sad to say goodbye. It’s been a great experience, and I’ve learned so much over the season. One of the hig
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Week 10

 New Traps This week I set two new kinds of traps: BG traps and Ovi traps. I set them both at a site in Blackstone that tested positive for WNV and caught an Asian tiger mosquito last week. We especially want to monitor the areas  I set the BG and Ovi traps at the site that tested positive for WNV last week to increase surveillance. The BG trap doesn't catch many mosquitoes, but it has been the most effective at catching Asian Tiger mosquitoes. It attracts the mosquitoes with a BG lure, a stick that is supposed to smell like people (but to me it smells awful!). After the mosquitoes fly to the trap, they get sucked in by a fan and trapped in a net. Fortunately, I did not catch any Asian Tiger mosquitoes, so we are safe for now.  Ovi traps are made to collect mosquito eggs. They are small black cups with a special paper inside that the eggs stick to after being laid. Processing Ovi traps takes about a months time. First, I have to set the traps - which is 6 cups at a time. A week lat
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Week 9

West Nile Virus Positives This week, we had three West Nile Virus positive pools this week: in Blackstone, Natick, and Worcester. Blackstone and Natick are in my route, so I trapped the positive mosquitoes in those towns. It's a little scary knowing I was so close to mosquitoes with WNV. This positive case has also brought new meaning to my job as a trapper. I'm glad I was part of the team that caught these WNV cases and were able to help out the public. I think these positives will peak public curiosity and worry about mosquitoes, so I think I will have a lot more people come up and ask my questions. So, I'll make sure to brush up on my knowledge of WNV so that I can educate them and hopefully minimize their risk of contracting a vector-borne disease.  Golden Anopheles  Last week we found many mosquitoes uncommon to central Massachusetts in our traps. On Thursday, Audrey and I were processing mosquitoes when she noticed a very large, golden bug in her trap. We didn't k
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Weeks 7 and 8

Continuing to Trap and ID Over the past two weeks, I've continued to go out in the field and collect mosquitoes using CDC CO2 traps and gravid traps. No mosquitoes in our towns have tested positive for any diseases yet, which is good! But, Norfolk County had its first case of West Nile and Plymouth County had its first case of EEE last week, so we expect a positive soon. The number of perturbans  we caught has decreased dramatically compared to the last couple weeks. As the CDC traps become less full, the gravid traps are getting fuller. I'm getting more familiar with distinguishing Culex mosquitoes and will continue to practice this over the rest of the internship. First of the Trainee Summer Seminar Series! Dr. Beard: Future Vector-Borne Disease Workforce  On Friday, I attended Dr. Ben Beard's insightful presentation on the future trajectory of vector-borne diseases (VBDs). Dr. Beard emphasized the profound impact of climate change on VBDs, highlighting how shifts in clim
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Week 6

  Mosquito ID I'm continuing to practice my ID skills. They've improved a lot over the past two weeks! I can confidently identify a  perturbans  now, after counting about 5,000 of them! We are mostly catching perturbans in our CDCs and Culex  in our gravid traps. We are also finding japonicus and other Aedes.   I will continue to practice using the ID guide and learning what mosquitoes commonly found in this area look like.  Connecting ID to Trapping  I've started to find connections between the trap site and the mosquito samples collected. Perturbans  are commonly found in swampy areas, and I've noticed that my trap sites in really swampy towns collect a lot of perturbans, especially if my CDC is hanging close to a marsh. These swampy towns are also probably most likely to be exposed to EEE as a result.  Marsh site in Sturbridge. Public Education When I'm out trapping, people walking by will sometimes ask me about what I'm doing. I really enjoy this part of the
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Week 5

 Meeting NEVBD Interns! Friday I met many of the other NEVBD interns over zoom. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and hearing about their projects. It was interesting to hear about what the other interns are doing on a day-to-day basis, and I found that many of us do similar things like mosquito trapping and ID. I found it very helpful to hear the tricks they learned that helped them have an easier time IDing mosquitoes and I found myself using a lot of the techniques they mentioned these past two weeks as I worked in the lab. It's great to be able to connect and learn from each other. Mosquito Trapping  We changed our trapping schedule this week to make sure that we hit every town with four-day work week. I set up eight traps on Monday, collected them Tuesday, then set up eight on Thursday and collected them Friday. We have been collecting a lot more mosquitoes than last year (in the couple of weeks we've been trapping, we've already surpassed the total number of mosquitoe
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Week 4

 Mosquito ID This week, I learned how to ID mosquitoes. I looked at mosquitoes in a microscope and followed an ID guide to categorize them. We count the number of the specific types of mosquitoes we caught at each different trap site and then send the species that are capable of transmitting specific diseases to the lab for testing. Mosquito ID is very tedious, but I like to learn about the sample that I caught.  I am continuing to set up CDC and gravid traps every day. Each morning, I pack up my truck with everything I need to set up traps and collect the samples. I return to the office after I set up and pick up the traps and process my mosquitoes. Now, I am working on learning how to ID the mosquitoes. Right now, I'm very slow and need someone to double check most of my IDs, but I hope I will get better with more practice.  
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