6 things you need to know about Zika and Nebraska
By Bill Kelly , Senior Producer/Reporter Nebraska Public Media
June 17, 2016, 6:45 a.m. ·
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You have heard lots of news about the Zika virus, its effects on people in South and Central America, and even how it might impact the Summer Olympics. Could it impact your life in Nebraska?
Maybe not directly, but the trends make it clear you need to pay attention to Zika in the coming months and probably for years to come. Here are answers to a few questions we’ve been asking.
THE MOSQUITO WRANGLER
Doug Wheeler is on the front lines in the state’s surveillance of disease carrying mosquitoes. For several years he’s been trapping common house mosquitoes for the Southeastern Nebraska Health Department.
He sends the bugs (packed in dry ice) to the State of Nebraska’s public health lab to identify the type and test to see if they carry the West Nile Virus.
At night the trap uses a light to attract the bugs close enough for a small fan to suck them into a net bag.
This year is the first time Wheeler set a second trap for Aedes albopictus, the scientific name for the Asian Tiger mosquito, believed to be a carrier of the Zika virus.
The Aedes group are aggressive day time biters, that have started moving north only recently. The day trap uses a foul-smelling slurry of water and rabbit chow to draw the bugs into their nets.
Wheeler takes pride in the additional responsibility, being part of a public health research.
“It’s interesting but it’s also scary, because we don’t know that much about the Zika virus yet,” Wheeler says.
Kevin Cluskey, the director of the four county health department adds, “If we know what the issue is before it becomes an issue we have a better opportunity to protect ourselves against it. It gives us a better opportunity to not be reactionary but to be proactive.”