2005 SURVEY FOR MOSQUITOES IN SOUTH DAKOTA
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND METHODS
This is the 5th year of a project initiated by the South Dakota Department of Health for the purpose of monitoring mosquitoes in South Dakota for the presence of the West Nile Virus.  A group from SDSU has been assisting the Department of Health in collecting mosquitoes from 5 sites within the State.   The Department of Health is also trapping mosquitoes from the Pierre area, and the city of Sioux Falls is also trapping from their area.  Personnel from Pennington, Meade, Brookings and Brown counties are also submitting mosquitoes for testing.  The sites that the group from SDSU are assisting with include 3 different sites in Brookings County, 2) 2 sites in Beadle County around the Huron area, 3) 3 sites in Meade County east of Sturgis, and 2 sites in Dewey County around the Eagle Butte area.  Four SDSU undergraduate student (Ryan Beyer, Clayton Wulf, Jacob Schaeffer, and Mitch McKenzie) are performing most of the mosquito collections and identifications from Brookings and Beadle counties.  Another SDSU student (Laura Weyrich) has been responsible for collecting and identifying mosquitoes from Meade County.  A student from Eagle Butte has been collecting and identifying mosquitoes from Meade County. 

To collect mosquitoes, CDC miniture light traps (J.W. Hock Inc., Gainesville, FL) are being used with carbon-dioxide baiting, beginning on June 1 and ending on September 1, 2004.   The light traps are equipped with an internal programmable photo-switch such that the light and fan are turned on at dusk and and off at dawn.  The traps are checked each morning and the mosquitoes are frozen in conventional freezers (approximately -20C).  During the same week, the mosquitoes are thawed briefly, identified and then re-frozen at -70C.   Frozen mosquitoes are sent to the S.D. Department of Health on dry ice to be tested for the presence of the virus.

ADULT SURVEILLANCE DATA

Collection Sites (Satellite image provided by the USGS EROS Data Center)
Current data is reported with each of the linked sites listed below.

Brookings Sites:
City Site #1: This trap was located a couple of blocks west of Main Street within the city of Brookings.

Acreage Site #2: Mosquito trap was located in a small grove on a acreage approximately 1 mile from the Big Sioux River.  The acreage is approximately 2 miles south of the Brookings city limits and contains a few horses and cows.

Farm Site #3: This trap was located in a shelter belt on a farm a couple of miles south and a few miles west of Brookings.

 

 

Huron Sites:
City Site #1: Trap is located in a bushy area of the South Dakota State Fairgrounds in Huron, SD.

Farm Site #2: This trap is located in a shelter belt on a farm a few miles north and several miles west of Huron.  Temporary wetlands are located 1 mile south of this farm site.

Sturgis Sites:
Farm Site #1: This site was on a ranch several miles east of Sturgis

Farm Site #2: This site was located on a dairy found a few miles north and east of Sturgis

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