FORT BENNING, Ga. -- The Fort Benning Environmental Health Department of Preventive Medicine is trapping mosquitoes and shipping them off to Public Health Command-Atlantic for Zika virus testing.
Lisa Phillips is the sanitarian tasked with the trapping and surveillance of mosquitoes on Fort Benning.
"We have two separate types of traps. We have mosquito light traps and BG-Sentinel traps," said Phillips. "Every Monday afternoon we place traps out at various locations on the installation. The light traps we will pick up Tuesday morning and the BG-Sentinel traps we will wait until Tuesday at the end of the day."
Once the traps are picked up they are taken back to the Environmental Health Department of Preventative Medicine and the environmental health technicians freeze the captured mosquitoes. The frozen mosquitoes are sorted by genus and prepared for shipment to PHC-Atlantic for Zika virus testing.
Phillips stressed, "No one has contracted the Zika virus from a mosquito in the United States, but there have been individuals who have contracted the virus after traveling outside the country."
The Environmental Health Department also surveys around the installation for the mosquitoes' breeding habitats. Technicians take larval samples from these habitats in order to determine their species.
Mosquitoes tend to breed in standing water, which includes ponds, swimming pools, flower pots and puddles.
It takes around four to seven days for them to breed," said Phillips.
Phillips advised people to dump any standing water every three to four days and replace it with fresh water to help eliminate the mosquitoes' breeding habitat.
"Our goal is to eliminate the breeding habitats as much as possible by letting people know what kind of containers they breed in and how they breed," Phillips said.
Phillips emphasized personal responsibility to eliminate mosquito breeding habitats and taking the necessary steps to avoid the Zika virus.
The CDC encourages people to use EPA approved insect repellant every few hours. People can prevent bites by wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and treating clothing and gear with permethrin.
The CDC also recommends using a mosquito net for sleeping outdoors or for traveling to a country that has the Zika virus.
Phillips said it is up to the individual to take these steps and protect themselves from mosquito transmitted diseases.
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