As Zika skipped into Puerto Rico and then Florida this summer and threatened to spread northward, an uncoordinated patchwork of mosquito control offices — funded by state health departments, county governments and special tax districts — stretched their budgets in the campaign to track and eradicate mosquito breeding grounds. Though the populations of the two species of mosquito that transmit the Zika virus will thin out in the U.S. by mid-October in colder weather, according to tropical disease experts, they will likely return with a vengeance next year.
And, while this year’s crisis may be nearing its end, officials in the states that will form the first ring of protection to limit the disease’s future spread remain worried and underprepared.
The efforts in many areas have been stymied by years of diminishing local spending for mosquito control, lack of emergency funding from the federal government and too few workers to handle the problem. And public health officials say they may not truly know the full extent of the Zika outbreaks for months when perhaps babies affected by the virus are born.
“We have no sense of the transmission. Our knowledge base is essentially nothing,” said Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Mosquito control is generally a local prerogative, and many jurisdictions gave up robust efforts years ago since — unlike in more tropical countries — U.S. mosquitoes didn’t generally carry serious disease. That calculus has changed.
