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As part of an evaluation of the ecology of arthropod-borne diseases in the Republic of Korea (ROK), we examined 8,765 mosquitoes captured in Paju County, Gyonggi Province, ROK, for the presence of viruses. Mosquitoes were captured in propane lantern/human-baited Shannon traps, Mosquito Magnet traps, or American Biophysics Corporation (East Greenwich, RI) miniature light traps with or without supplemental octenol bait and/or dry ice. Mosquitoes were identified to species, placed in pools of up to 40 mosquitoes each, and tested on Vero cells for the presence of virus. A total of 15 virus isolations were made from 293 pools of mosquitoes. Viruses were identified by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and sequencing and consisted of 14 isolations of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus and one isolation of Getah (GET) virus. All JE isolates were from Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles, and the isolate of GET was from Aedes vexans (Meigen). The minimum field infection rate for JE in Cx. tritaeniorhynchus was 3.3 per 1,000, whereas the GET virus infection rate for Ae. vexans was 0.2 per 1,000. Isolation of JE and GET indicated that both viruses were actively circulating in northern Gyonggi Province, ROK. The lack of human cases of JE among the Korean population probably is because of an effective government-mandated vaccination program. The reason for no cases among >10,000 United States military and others that reside or train nearby is unknown, but may be related to personnel protection measures (permethrin-impregnated uniforms and use of deet repellent), adult mosquito control, mosquito selection of nonhuman hosts (unpublished data), and the low symptomatic to asymptomatic ratio of disease in adults.

One of the most significant modern day efforts to prevent and control an arthropod-borne disease during a military deployment occurred when a team of U.S. military entomologists led efforts to characterize, prevent, and control leishmaniasis at Tallil Air Base (TAB), Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Soon after arriving at TAB on 22 March 2003, military entomologists determined that 1) high numbers of sand flies were present at TAB, 2) individual soldiers were receiving many sand fly bites in a single night, and 3) Leishmania parasites were present in 1.5% of the female sand flies as determined using a real-time (fluorogenic) Leishmania-generic polymerase chain reaction assay. The rapid determination that leishmaniasis was a specific threat in this area allowed for the establishment of a comprehensive Leishmaniasis Control Program (LCP) over 5 mo before the first case of leishmaniasis was confirmed in a U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq. The LCP had four components: 1) risk assessment, 2) enhancement of use of personal protective measures by all personnel at TAB, 3) vector and reservoir control, and 4) education of military personnel about sand flies and leishmaniasis. The establishment of the LCP at TAB before the onset of any human disease conclusively demonstrated that entomologists can play a critical role during military deployments.

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One of the most signiÞcant modern day efforts to prevent and control an arthropodborne disease during a military deployment occurred when a team of U.S. military entomologists led efforts to characterize, prevent, and control leishmaniasis at Tallil Air Base (TAB), Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Soon after arriving at TAB on 22 March 2003, military entomologists determined that 1) high numbers of sand ßies were present at TAB, 2) individual soldiers were receiving many sand ßy bites in a single night, and 3) Leishmania parasites were present in 1.5% of the female sand ßies as determined using a real-time (ßuorogenic) Leishmania-generic polymerase chain reaction assay. The rapid determination that leishmaniasis was a speciÞc threat in this area allowed for the establishment of a comprehensive Leishmaniasis Control Program (LCP) over 5 mo before the Þrst case of leishmaniasis was conÞrmed in a U.S. soldier deployed to Iraq. The LCP had four components: 1) risk assessment, 2) enhancement of use of personal protective measures by all personnel at TAB, 3) vector and reservoir control, and 4) education of military personnel about sand ßies and leishmaniasis. The establishment of the LCP at TAB before the onset of any human disease conclusively demonstrated that entomologists can play a critical role during military deployments. KEY WORDS sand ßies, leishmaniasis, Iraq, surveillance, controlIn this article, we provide an overview of the general situation that the U.S. Military encountered at Tallil Air Base (TAB), Iraq, in March 2003 and discuss the factors that led to the establishment of a Leishmaniasis Control Program (LCP) at TAB. We also describe each of the four main components of the LCP (vector surveillance, personal protective measures [PPM], sand ßy and reservoir control, and soldier education). Although brief summaries of this program have been published separately (Coleman et al. 2004;2005), we believe that it is important to provide a comprehensive overview of one of the most signiÞcant modern day efforts to prevent and control an arthropod-borne disease during a military deployment. Although much of this article relies on anecdote, we believe that this information has both scientiÞc as well as historical value. In the series of articles to follow, we will provide detailed results about the speciÞc components of the program, including: 1) the general biology of phlebotomine sand ßies at TAB, 2) our evaluation of a variety of surveillance devices for the collection of sand ßies, 3) the impact of environmental conditions on sand ßy activity, 4) the efÞcacy of a variety of area spray measures on sand ßy abundance, 5) the efÞcacy of a variety of residual spray measures on sand ßy abundance, 6) testing of sand ßy populations for the presence of Leishmania parasites and the genetics of Leishmania parasites isolated from sand ßies, 7) our evaluation of PPM as a means of protecting soldiers from sand ßy bites, and 8) our overall evaluation of the risk of leishmaniasis at TAB and the efÞcacy of the ...

In this study, we examined the effect of weather and moon illumination on sand fly activity, as measured by light trap collections made between 2 May 2003 and 25 October 2004 at Tallil Air Base, Iraq. Wind speed, temperature, dew point, percentage of sky cover, and moon illumination were entered into principal components analysis. The resulting principal components were entered into stepwise regression to develop a model of the impact of the weather on sand fly collections. Wind speed, percentage of sky cover, and moon illumination each had a strong inverse relationship with the number of sand flies collected, whereas temperature displayed a direct relationship to sand fly collections. Our data indicate that sand fly light trap catches at Tallil Air Base are highest on warm, clear nights with low wind speed and minimal illumination from the moon.

We evaluated the effectiveness of commercially available light traps and sticky traps baited with chemical light sticks for the collection of phlebotomine sand flies. Evaluations were conducted at Tallil Air Base, Iraq, in 2003. In an initial study, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-style trap with UV bulb collected significantly more sand flies than did an up-draft CDC trap, a standard down-draft CDC trap (STD-CDC), or a sticky strap with a green chemical light stick. In a subsequent study, we found that the addition of chemical light sticks to sticky traps resulted in a significant increase in the number of sand flies collected compared with sticky traps without the light sticks. These data indicate that 1) the CDC light trap with an UV bulb is an effective alternative to the standard CDC light trap for collecting phlebotomine sand flies in Iraq, and 2) that the addition of a chemical light stick to a sticky trap can result in a field-expedient tool for the collection of sand flies.