IN AUGUST 2013, RESEARCHERS WITH THE NAVY ENTOMOLOGY CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (NECE) in Jacksonville, Fla., traveled to Key West to test an innovative new approach to mosquito control in an
effort to reduce the risk of debilitating insect-borne diseases such as chikungunya and dengue fever. Their weapon: a bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, which kills mosquitos when ingested.
“We’re trying to come up with an
environmentally sustainable way of controlling mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical regions. That is the main goal,” says Navy Lt. Jennifer Knapp, assistant department head of testing and evaluation. In 2013, scientists with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research joined the NECE crew in Key West to test a new approach to monitoring chikun- gunya using a dipstick that detects the disease in pulverized mosquitoes. The device has been determined ef- fective, but studies continue. NECE has been on the vanguard of insect control since the unit’s first in- carnation during World War II. When American forces entered the Pacific
War in 1942, mosquitoes proved to be a bigger threat than the Japanese. As U.S. Marines struggled to rout
an entrenched enemy from lush, tropical islands such as Guadalcanal and Efate, they were felled in increas- ing numbers by malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, ailments that took weeks to treat and adversely affected combat readiness. Something had to be done, and quickly. In April 1942, the Navy Medical Department created field laboratory teams, known as Navy Epidemiology Units, to combat the winged menace. Using a then-newly identified insec- ticide called DDT, Navy entomolo- gists attacked mosquitoes on several fronts. They sprayed or drained areas of standing water to interrupt breed- ing, treated tents with insecticide, and educated military personnel on how to reduce their risk of being bitten. The multipronged assault worked. Within a year, the incidence of ma-
laria and other diseases among Amer- ican fighting forces in the Pacific Theater dropped to almost zero. Dur- ing the war, Navy entomologists also worked their magic in China, North Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. (Though DDT was effective against malaria-carrying mosquitoes, its wholesale impact on the environ- ment and carcinogenic properties led to it being widely banned starting in the early 1970s.) Combating bugs was sometimes dangerous duty: Navy Lt. William Gordon was killed by mortar fire on Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands in March 1944, and Navy Lt. John Maple perished in a plane crash while directing aerial spray opera- tions on Okinawa in April 1945. Military entomologists continued
their work in Korea, where malaria and louse-borne typhus were preva- lent, then in Vietnam and Opera- tion Desert Storm. Today, military entomologists continue to protect
(left) Servicemembers assigned to Joint Forces Command United Assistance wear uniforms treated with insect repellent as they unload bags in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2014. (previous page) (first row) A sand fly has a blood meal, flies are sorted, and a soldier awaits leishmaniasis treatment. (second row) An entomologist sets an insect trap, a mosquito feeds, and antimalarial medication is ready for use in West Africa. (third row) German cockroaches leave behind frass, and a Naval entomologist studies insects.
(fourth row) Ticks are small and barely noticeable in tall grass. IMAGES: LEFT, STAFF SGT. V. MICHELLE WOODS, USA; PREVIOUS PAGE: FROM LEFT, ROW 1, FRANK COLLINS/CENTERS FOR DIS- EASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC); PFC. BETHANY L. LITTLE, USA; LESLIE E. KOSSOFF/AP; ROW 2, PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS BRYAN WEYERS, USN; ARMY NEWS SERVICE; STAFF SGT. V. MICHELLE WOODS, USA; ROW 3, PHOTOS 1 AND 2, LT. J.G. TIM CIARLO, USN; PETTY OFFICER 2ND CLASS MARK LOGICO, USN; ROW 4, SHUTTERSTOCK; CPL. TYLER ANDERSEN, USMC; SHUTTERSTOCK; FACING PAGE: FROM TOP, COLIN HAYES; LT. MICHAEL MORLEY; CDC
60 MILITARY OFFICER JULY 2015
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