The ALL Florida Online Corvette Club - View Single Post - Dealing with the Florida state bird: The Mosquito.

**Rich Z** · 09-12-2007, 01:09 AM

I doubt that there very few places in Florida that are NATURALLY free from mosquitoes without human intervention. Back in the olden days, most of peninsular Florida was considered as uninhabitable because of the mosquitoes and the incidence of endemic malaria. BTW, there have been cases of malaria noted in Florida in the very recent past -> http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5319a2.htm

It wasn't until 1950 or so that malaria was eradicated from the state. DDT was largely responsible for this feat. But obviously the threat always exists for that parasite to become established again within the animal population and carried by mosquitoes to human hosts.

Many urban areas of Florida have periodic spraying done to kill off mosquitoes. The pests are considered as being a negative influence in the tourism industry, so measures are taken with that in mind in those areas where the negative publicity of mosquitoes (especially with the West Nile virus incident a few years back) would have some impact on visiting tourists.

Is noteworthy to mention that there is actually a Florida Mosquito Control Association tasked to combat this pest -> http://www.floridamosquito.org/index_aboutus.html

So my belief is that if you don't currently have mosquitoes in your area, it is through some diligent efforts of the mosquito control department at work.

09-12-2007, 01:09 AM	#10
Rich Z Internet Sanitation Engineer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Crawfordville, FL Posts: 15,134 Name : Rich Zuchowski	I doubt that there very few places in Florida that are NATURALLY free from mosquitoes without human intervention. Back in the olden days, most of peninsular Florida was considered as uninhabitable because of the mosquitoes and the incidence of endemic malaria. BTW, there have been cases of malaria noted in Florida in the very recent past -> http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5319a2.htm It wasn't until 1950 or so that malaria was eradicated from the state. DDT was largely responsible for this feat. But obviously the threat always exists for that parasite to become established again within the animal population and carried by mosquitoes to human hosts. Many urban areas of Florida have periodic spraying done to kill off mosquitoes. The pests are considered as being a negative influence in the tourism industry, so measures are taken with that in mind in those areas where the negative publicity of mosquitoes (especially with the West Nile virus incident a few years back) would have some impact on visiting tourists. Is noteworthy to mention that there is actually a Florida Mosquito Control Association tasked to combat this pest -> http://www.floridamosquito.org/index_aboutus.html So my belief is that if you don't currently have mosquitoes in your area, it is through some diligent efforts of the mosquito control department at work. __________________