Corey Day, a doctoral student investigating the distribution of pediatric La Crosse virus disease in eastern Tennessee and North Carolina, and associate professor Rebecca Trout Fryxell are addressing the significant challenge posed by mosquito-borne La Crosse virus disease in East Tennessee.
East Tennessee is burdened by mosquito-borne La Crosse virus disease, but minimal resources for mosquito surveillance, management, or related community education exist in the region. To address these needs, they developed a program to train middle and high school educators in basic medical entomology. The educators then used their skills in the classroom to teach students about La Crosse virus disease and conduct mosquito collection experiments.
As a case study of a potential application of classroom-collected data, Day and Trout Fryxell partnered with a local non-profit organization to assess the potential for a volunteer litter cleanup to reduce mosquito populations in a Tennessee neighborhood. This collaborative effort aimed to educate the community and sought practical solutions to mitigate the impact of mosquito-borne diseases.
To learn more about community efforts to monitor and manage Aedes mosquitoes in East Tennessee, visit https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/community-efforts.
By Teneria Parker
