Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
The Zika mosquito
This is a female Aedes aegypti mosquito on the arm of a researcher in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Aedes aegypti has spread Zika and other ugly viruses, but it has not been seen in Alabama for years. Health experts say it may survive in small pockets, but it is not a major concern as we enter the summer. Worry about it mainly if you're visiting known Zika outbreak spots, subtropical south Florida, extreme south Texas or south Louisiana.
Centers for Disease Control
Zika outbreak
Here is where active transmission of Zika from mosquitoes to humans has been reported and verified. Note that the area includes many popular island vacation spots and cruise ship stops.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
The number of cases
There have been 5 reported Zika cases in Alabama but even more in Florida and Georgia. None of the cases in Alabama, Florida or Georgia was a "local transmission," meaning caused by the bite of a local mosquito. All were "travel" cases where someone was infected outside the United States.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
How to get Zika
People are legitimately worried about mosquito-borne Zika, especially if it mutates to strains other mosquitoes can carry. But what's new is Zika's ability to be transmitted by men to their partners - female or male - via sexual contact. This is a first for a mosquito-borne disease. Zika is known to stay in semen longer than blood, but exactly how long it can stay there isn't known yet.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
The big problem
Most people who get Zika - 80 percent of them - will never know they have it. For the others, symptoms are fever, red eyes, joint and muscle pain, rashes and headaches. The cause for concern is that a mother infected with Zika can pass the birth defect microcephaly to her child. Microcephaly leads to an abnormally small head and developmental problems such as difficulty swallowing, balance and stability issues, intellectual problems, hearing loss and poor vision.
ferlistockphoto
Pregnant women
If you are pregnant in Alabama or the South, health officials recommend three things to protect yourself and your child: Don't travel to areas with Zika, take steps to avoid mosquito bites, and take steps to prevent getting Zika through sex. Read more about Zika and pregnancy here.
Associated Press photo
The other mosquito
This is an Aedes albopictus female mosquito found across Alabama and the South. If you are bitten by a mosquito, it's almost certainly this one. It may also carry the Zika virus, but there are doubts about its effectiveness in spreading the disease to humans. Aedes albopictus doesn't travel more than a few blocks in its life, but it likes to be around humans, including inside homes, buildings and offices. It is an aggressive daytime biter, and health departments fight a war against it every summer. (Updated on May 31 to reflect that this mosquito could also carry Zika)
Alabama Department of Public Health
The bottlecap challenge
A lot of mosquito eggs can survive in a small amount of water - a bottle cap's worth, to be exact. That makes standing water the No. 1 enemy for health departments trying to fight mosquitoes. And fighting mosquitoes this summer means fighting potential carriers of Zika if it mutates.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
Mosquito defense
To avoid mosquito bites, health officials stress the three D's - drain, dress and defend. They show this slide to illustrate all the places mosquitoes will breed if given a chance. "Dressing" means long pants and long sleeves when going outside. "Defend" means good repellent with one of the following active, approved ingredients: DEET, IR3535, Picaridin (KBR 3023)and oil of lemon eucalyptus. Click here to see how Consumer Reports ranks the top repellents.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
Not quite there
The owner here turned his large buckets over so they wouldn't fill with mosquito-breeding rain water, but he forgot something. The little tray created by the slightly raised bottom on each bucket is plenty of water for mosquitoes to reproduce. Sights like this are what health officials see when homeowners ask them to do a mosquito tour of their property.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
Bad neighbors
You can do everything possible to reduce mosquito breeding on your own property and still fall victim to bad neighbors. Enough water can pool in the folds of these bags to make a mosquito hatchery. What can you do about it? Consider reporting them to the county health department. With Zika in the mix now, this isn't just irritating.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
More bad neighbors
Here we have perfect breeding territory for any number of pests including mosquitoes. Who even knows what's back there? It's pretty clear no one's ventured into this mess for quite a while.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
The hoarders
Sometimes a back yard passes "trash" and goes straight to "hoarders." When it happens, mosquitoes have everything they need to breed in quantities that can torment an entire neighborhood. If you know this is going on behind a fence near you, file a complaint. Again, if Zika mutates into a strain Alabama's dominant mosquito can carry, you don't want to be living next to this.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
The super hoarders
This is a health hazard even if Zika never threatens Alabama. Somebody in this house has given up for some reason, and it's good that someone else picked up the phone and called the authorities who took this picture.
Lee Roop | lroop@al.com
State response
This is Cheryl Clay with the State Health Department in Huntsville. She works with the department with trucks like these that spray for mosquitoes. Some cities and a few counties in Alabama have programs like it, but spraying is aimed primarily against mosquitoes that fly just after sundown and large mosquito-hatching areas like ponds and ditches. The mosquito that might carry a mutated strain of Zika, the Aedes albopictus, breeds around homes and flies all day long.
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