Other Laboratory Programs

Ticks and Lyme Disease
Ticks transmit Lyme disease. The bacteria that causes Lyme disease is called Borrelia burgdorferi. The primary vector for Lyme disease in Sacramento and Yolo counties is the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus. Every year, our laboratory collects tick specimens from seven locations from November through May using a technique called tick flagging where ticks attach to a flannel sheet which is dragged along the side of a trail. All ticks collected are processed and tested for the disease.

Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease, caused by a parasite that attacks red blood cells. Malaria is transmitted to humans primarily by Anopheline mosquitoes. In Sacramento and Yolo counties, there are two species of mosquitoes that can transmit the malaria parasite: Anopheles freeborni (the Western Malaria Mosquito) and Anopheles punctipennis (the Woodland Malaria Mosquito). We receive malaria case reports by the Sacramento County and Yolo County Health and Human Services Departments. Our laboratory responds to the reports by trapping mosquitoes for 24 hours in the area surrounding the malaria case. The mosquitoes are returned to the laboratory for identification, and all female Anopheline mosquitoes are tested for malaria parasites.

Pesticide Management and Calibration
Pesticide resistance is of great concern in control programs. Pesticide resistance occurs when the same compound is used routinely and mosquito populations develop resistance to the specific compound. It is ideal to rotate treatment compounds used so that mosquito populations do not become resistant. When resistance develops in a mosquito population, previous treatments which had controlled the mosquitoes are no longer effective. Therefore, it is critical to monitor local mosquito populations to be sure we are effectively controlling the mosquitoes. To monitor this, we perform numerous tests using both larvae and adults.

Did you know?
Mosquitofish, or Gambusia Affinis, are very efficient predators of mosquito larvae and are utilized throughout Sacramento and Yolo counties to control mosquitoes.