- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The soldiers called the mosquitoes "gallinippers."
Physicians had not yet linked malaria to Anopheles mosquitoes. They believed "humidity" or “swamp effluvia" caused what they called "intermittent fever."
Soldiers who contracted "intermittent fever" complained of "ague" (fever and chills) or "the shakes."
Sam, a towering farm boy from Linn., Mo., was 18 when he enlisted in the Union Army. Company commanders selected him as the color bearer for three reasons: his height (6' 3"), his strength (hoisting the flag and flying it high) and his courage (front lines)
"Being a color bearer (aka carrying the flag), was a prestigious and important role in the Army. Not only were you carrying the symbol of what you were fighting for, the flag was any easy mark for soldiers to organize around," according to an article written in a National Museum of Civil War Medicine post by Amelia Grabowski, the outreach and education coordinator at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum.
"When one color-bearer fell, another immediately took his place. For instance, Colonel D. K. Mcrae of the 5th North Carolina Infantry, Commanding Brigade recorded this about the Battle of Williamsburg: My color bearer was first struck down, when his comrade seized the flag, who fell immediately. A third took it and shared the same fate; then Capt. Benjamin Robinson, of Company A, carried it until the staff had shivered to pieces in his hands."
"...The flags made them (color bearers) easy and enticing targets," Grabowski wrote.
Young Samuel carried the flag in three of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War: the Battle of Lookout Mountain, and the battles of Chicamauga and Chattanooga. A musket tore a hole in his flag but he emerged from the Civil War physically unscathed.
"The diagnosis of malaria at the time of the Civil War was made by symptoms and not the laboratory tests we use today," wrote Lloyd Klein and Eric Wittenberg of San Francisco, in Hektoen International, a Journal of Medical Humanities. "Nineteenth-century physicians diagnosed malaria as a recurrent, intermittent, or 'periodic' fever and categorized it according to how often fever spikes or 'paroxysms' occurred. A 'quotidian' fever occurs once every twenty-four hours, a 'tertian' every forty-eight, and a 'quartan' every seventy-two."
The authors related that malaria killed some 30,000 Civil War soldiers. Among Union soldiers, some 10,000 died of malaria, and records show more than a million cases of the disease.
Ironically, after surviving the Civil War, Samuel Davidson Laughlin died from blood poisoning when a splinter lodged in his hand when he was carrying an armload of firewood into the family home in Castle Rock, Wash. The color bearer, the husband, the father, and the grandfather died Feb. 24, 1910 in an Oregon hospital. He is buried on a knoll overlooking the historic round barn (now in the National Register of Historic Places) that he built in 1883.
His gravestone reads simply: "Gone, but not forgotten."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Enter Filipa Rijo-Ferreira, a UC Berkeley School of Public Health (BPH) assistant professor who specializes in parasitology and circadian rhythms.
She'll present a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 19 on "Circadian Rhythms in Parasitic Diseases" in 122 Briggs Hall. Her seminar also will be virtual. The Zoom link is https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672. Host is molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"Malaria's main symptom is the periodic fevers experienced by patients, fevers that ‘come and go' at certain times of the day and are a consequence of synchronized parasite rhythms," Rijo-Ferreira says in her abstract. "In humans, circadian clocks regulate multiple aspects of physiology, including sleep-wake cycles, metabolism, and immune defense. Circadian biology leads to body rhythms experienced by the pathogens that infect humans. In addition to sensing host rhythms, we recently discovered that parasites which cause devastating health burdens such as malaria and sleeping sickness diseases also have their own intrinsic clocks. The clocks of parasites regulate core biological functions from metabolism to the cell cycle, and the discovery of the existence of their clocks serves as an opportunity to access the molecular mechanisms regulating their rhythmic biology."
A native of Lisbon, Portugal, Rijo-Ferreira joined the UC Berkeley Public Health faculty in January 2022. She describes herself as a "scientist passionate about the complex daily host-parasite interactions and how parasites evolved circadian clocks to anticipate environmental cycles." She recently authored "The Malaria Parasite Has an Intrinsic Clock," published in Science magazine.
"Our lab is interested in parasitic infections and we study them under the lenses of time of day," Rijo-Ferreira wrote on her lab website. "Our rhythmic world has been a driving force for organisms to evolve a molecular clock to anticipate such daily rhythms. Similarly, our own circadian biology leads to physiological rhythms that parasites experience.We study the single-celled parasites Plasmodium spp. that causes malaria, and Trypanosoma brucei that causes sleeping sickness. We employ technical approaches spanning from next-generation sequencing, to cellular and behavioral assays to investigate the interactions of these parasites with their hosts.Our work seeks to understand how circadian rhythms modulate host-parasite-vector interactions and identify opportunities in their rhythmic biology to treat parasitic infections
In an interview with BPH staff writer Eliza Partika, published in February 2022, she commented: "I am fascinated about our day and night cycles and how organisms evolved to anticipate them. I find it incredible that parasites, such as the ones that cause malaria, show a coordinated rhythmic pattern themselves, which underlies periodic fevers in infected individuals. Our research is aimed at understanding how this phenomenon is regulated molecularly, and how we can disrupt these rhythmic patterns to offset the infection."
"At BPH, we aim to set up a framework where we can explore the relationships between parasites, hosts, and the mosquitoes that serve as the vector of disease transmission, based on the time of day," Rijo-Ferreira related. "We hypothesize that the circadian rhythms of these three organisms need to be aligned in order for the parasite to cause an efficient infection. In fact, when rhythms are misaligned, there is a reduction in parasite levels. Thus, identifying the molecular players from host, parasite, and mosquito is essential to understanding this phenomenon and creating alternative strategies to manage deadly infections like malaria and sleeping sickness."
Rijo-Ferreira said she seeks to "bring to the attention the circadian aspect of infectious diseases and bring awareness of the potential benefits of time of day vaccination and drug treatment."
Emily Meineke, assistant professor of urban landscape entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, coordinates the department's seminars for the 2022-23 academic year. All 11 seminars will take place both person and virtually at 4:10 p.m. on Wednesdays in Room 122 of Briggs Hall except for the Nov. 9th and Dec. 7th seminars, which will be virtual only, she said. (See list of seminars)
For further information on the seminars or to resolve any technical difficulties with Zoom, contact Meineke at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu.
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"We are working with scientists and public health authorities in STP to establish the conditions that would facilitate an informed societal and government decision about a proposed release of Anopheles mosquitoes engineered to prevent transmission of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum on the islands,” said principal investigator Gregory Lanzaro, director of the Vector Genetics Laboratory and a PMI professor.
This award will be used to extend their ongoing entomological, engagement and capacity building work through 2025.
“We are working in collaboration with the UC Irvine Malaria Initiative (UCIMI), a research consortium including scientists from UC Irvine, San Diego and Berkeley as well as Johns Hopkins University,” Lanzaro said. “We are working toward the application of advanced genetic tools aimed at the mosquito vector. It is our belief that this approach, used in conjunction with early malaria treatment and detection, can provide a cost effective, sustainable, and environmentally responsible program to ultimately eliminate malaria from Africa.”
Said Ana Kormos, engagement program manager and lead author of the proposal: “These funds provide the UCIMI program with support to strengthen our existing relationship-based approach to the co-development of this technology and ensures that our partners in STP lead the decision-making processes involved in all aspects of the research. This is a huge step forward in advancing a truly collaborative approach to translational research.”
The Vector Genetics Laboratory is engaged in research and training in the areas of population and molecular genetics, genomics and bioinformatics of insect vectors of human and animal disease. The website: “We have developed a program aimed at expanding knowledge that may be applied to improving control of disease vectors and that also addresses problems of interest in the field of evolutionary genetics. We are currently engaged in a range of projects, but our major research focus is on vectors of malaria in Africa."
Directors of the Vector Genetics Laboratory research programs are Lanzaro and Anthony "Anton" Cornel, a research entomologist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and director of the Mosquito Control Research Laboratory, Parlier.
New Tools. "The fight to reduce and possibly eliminate malaria continues and becomes especially challenging as efforts to reduce malaria morbidity have plateaued since 2015,” said Cornel. “Therefore, we must seriously consider new tools. One such tool is genetically modifying the major mosquito vector in the Afrotropics so that it cannot transmit malaria."
"The project aims to use genetically modified (GM) mosquito strategy to reduce and eliminate malaria from the Islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, as proof of concept, before using this technology on larger scales on mainland Africa,” Cornel said, adding that his role, as a field team co-investigator for UCIMI and VGL, is to work with Lanzaro and Pinto “to understand as much as we can about the behavior, population structure and population sizes of Anopheles coluzzi (the malaria vector) on these islands to design the most efficient strategy of releasing the genetically modified mosquitoes to have maximum effect.”
Malaria is an acute illness caused by Plasmodium parasites, which spread to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2020, nearly half of the world's population was at risk of malaria. An estimated 241 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide in 2020, with 627,000 dying.
Tremendous Burden. Medical entomologist and geneticist Geoffrey Attardo of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (who is not involved in this project), noted that “Malaria is a disease which creates a tremendous burden on people living in affected areas. In particular its impacts on the mortality in young children and pregnant women are devastating. Attempts to control this disease using traditional methods have been effective in recent years.”
The island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, population of 178,700 in 2016, is located about 200 miles west of Gabon on Africa's mainland. It shares maritime borders with Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Nigeria. The combined area of the archipelago is about five times the size of Washington, DC. The United States established diplomatic relations with São Tomé and Príncipe in 1976, following its independence from Portugal.
Open Philanthropy's mission, as noted on its website, is to “give as effectively as we can and share our findings openly so that anyone can build on our work. Through research and grant-making, we hope to learn how to make philanthropy go especially far in terms of improving lives. We're passionate about maximizing the impact of our giving, and we're excited to connect with other donors who share our passion.”
Resource:
São Tomé and Príncipe (nationsonline.org)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Wait, there's more! "Not So Heartless: Functional Integration of the Immune and Circulatory Systems of Mosquitoes."
This may not be the proverbial heart-stopping seminar, but it promises to be an eye opener by a medical entomologist and captivating speaker.
Julián Hillyer, associate professor of biological sciences, Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation, Nashville, Tenn., will deliver that seminar at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 23, in 122 Briggs Hall, as part of the weekly UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminars.
"Mosquitoes--like all other animals--live under constant threat of infection," Hillyer says in his abstract. "Viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoan and metazoan pathogens infect mosquitoes through breaches in their exoskeleton and following ingestion. Because these pathogens pose a threat to their survival, mosquitoes have evolved a powerful immune system."
In his seminar, Hillyer will present his laboratory's work characterizing the circulatory and immune systems of the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. "Specifically," he says. "the talk will describe the structural mechanism of hemolymph (insect blood), circulation in different mosquito life stages, and the role that immune cells, called hemocytes play in the killing of pathogens by phagocytosis, melanization and lysis. Then I will describe the functional integration of the circulatory and immune systems a process that is manifested differently in larvae and adults. Specifically, the infection of an adult mosquito induces the aggregation of hemocytes at the abdominal ostia (valves) of the heart--where they sequester and kill pathogens in areas of high hemolymph flow--whereas the hemocytes of larvae aggregate instead on respiratory structures that flank the posterior in current openings of the heart."
"This research," Hillyer explains, "informs on the physiological interaction between two major organ systems and uncovers parallels between how the organ systems of invertebrate and vertebrate animals interact during the course of an infection."
What does the mosquito heart look like? Check out former Vanderbilt graduate student Jonas King's prize-winning image--a fluorescent image of the heart of a mosquito. It won first place in Nikon's "Small World'" photomicrography competition in 2010. King's image shows a section of the tube-like mosquito heart magnified 100 times. At the time he was a member of Hillyer's research group and is now an assistant professor at Mississippi State University.
In a piece by David Salisbury of Vanderbilt News, Hillyer related that "Surprisingly little is known about the mosquito's circulatory system despite the key role that it plays in spreading the malaria parasite. Because of the importance of this system, we expect better understanding of its biology will contribute to the development of novel pest- and disease-control strategies.”
"The mosquito's heart and circulatory system is dramatically different from that of mammals and humans," wrote Salisbury in the Oct. 15, 2010 piece. "A long tube extends from the insect's head to tail and is hung just under the cuticle shell that forms the mosquito's back. The heart makes up the rear two-thirds of the tube and consists of a series of valves within the tube and helical coils of muscle that surround the tube. These muscles cause the tube to expand and contract, producing a worm-like peristaltic pumping action. Most of the time, the heart pumps the mosquito's blood—a clear liquid called hemolymph—toward the mosquito's head, but occasionally it reverses direction. The mosquito doesn't have arteries and veins like mammals. Instead, the blood flows from the heart into the abdominal cavity and eventually cycles back through the heart."
“The mosquito's heart works something like the pump in a garden fountain,” Hillyer told Salisbury.
Hillyer was a Vanderbilt Chancellor Faculty Fellow (2016-2018) and was awarded the 2015 Henry Baldwin Ward Medal by the America Society of Parasitologists. He was elected to the Council of the American Society of Parasitologists, serving from 2012-2016. Other recent awards: the 2011 Jeffrey Nordhous Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the 2012 Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology from the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America.
Hillyer received his master's degree and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the mentorship of Ralph Albrecht and Bruce Christensen, respectively. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship under the mentorship of Kenneth Vernick at the University of Minnesota, now with Institut Pasteur. In 2007, Hillyer moved to Nashville, Tenn. to establish Vanderbilt University's mosquito immunology and physiology laboratory. (See more.)
The Hillyer Lab is interested in basic aspects of mosquito immunology and physiology, focusing on the mechanical and molecular bases of hemolymph (blood) propulsion, and the immunological interaction between mosquitoes and pathogens in the hemocoel (body cavity)," according to his website. "Given that chemical and biological insecticides function in the mosquito hemocoel, and that disease-causing pathogens traverse this compartment prior to being transmitted, we expect that our research will contribute to the development of novel pest and disease control strategies."
Host is Olivia Winokur, doctoral student in the Chris Barker lab. Community ecologist Rachel Vannette, assistant professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology, coordinates the weekly seminars. (See list of seminars)
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
This article was written for the UC IPM Retail Nursery and Garden Center News, a publication directed at retail nursery store employees. With the recent confirmed human West Nile virus deaths in California, it's important to understand how mosquitoes reproduce and what you can do to prevent them around your home or other areas.
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You've likely heard about ways to get rid of mosquito breeding sites around your home and landscape, as well as how to protect yourself from being bitten. But what should you do if you own or work at a retail nursery or garden center and want to prevent mosquitoes from breeding at work, as well?
Mosquito Development
Mosquitoes need water to reproduce. Females lay eggs on or near the surface of standing water. The eggs hatch into larvae that live in water and breathe air through specialized breathing tubes. Larvae eat small aquatic organisms and organic matter, gradually growing until the next developmental stage, called the pupa.
As pupae, mosquitoes are still aquatic and breathe air, but do not feed. They next develop into adults and emerge out of the water as flying insects.
Adult female mosquitoes drink blood while male mosquitoes are nectar-feeders. Females of some mosquito species can carry diseases such as West Nile virus, Zika, malaria, St. Louis encephalitis, and typhoid fever.
Prevention
Keep mosquitoes from becoming adults by controlling them in their aquatic stages. In nurseries and garden centers, pots sitting in saucers, trays that hold water, and puddles on floors and under benches are critical mosquito development sites.
Limit these breeding sites by emptying standing water that will sit for more than a few days. Frequently empty water from trays, fountains, saucers, or other areas. Check drains to make sure they are not clogged by debris and holding back water.
Treatment
If you have water displays, such as bird baths, fountains, or ponds, you can use products like Mosquito Bits and Mosquito Dunks, which contain the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis (Bti). This is an effective method to kill mosquito larvae with reduced risk to humans, fish, or bees.
Learn more and protect yourself
It's important that everyone working at a retail nursery or garden center understands best practices for mosquito prevention in order to stop mosquitoes from breeding on site. Employees can talk to customers about steps they can take at home to reduce mosquitoes, helping to protect themselves and their families.
It is up to all of us to help in the fight to control mosquitoes and limit the spread of diseases they can carry.
For much more information about diseases such as West Nile virus, limiting mosquito breeding sites, and protecting yourself from mosquito bites, visit the June 2013 issue of the Retail IPM News http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PDF/PUBS/retailipmnews.2013.jun.pdf and the UC IPM Pest Notes: Mosquitoes http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7451.html.
Find your local mosquito and vector control agency to learn what's being done in your area to reduce mosquitoes and how your store can help: http://www.mvcac.org/about/member-agencies/.