Middle East DVEP - Armed Forces Pest Management Board

from September to October. In Saudi Arabia, these species have either a single, veryshort peak in population (drier areas) or occur almost year-round (Asir District).Most Culex spp. are relatively strong fliers that can easily travel 3 to 5 km from theirbreeding sites. However, winds of over 4 km per hour are likely to prevent flight andhence curtail feeding activity in all Culex species.All of the above species are somewhat attracted to light, resulting in greater numbers ofmosquitoes in artificially lit areas. Most Culex spp. can be collected in light traps.Adults have an average life span of 2 to 3 weeks. Overwintering in temperate countriesoccurs in the adult stage, with members of the Cx. pipiens complex surviving in muchlarger numbers than Cx. univittatus. This is attributed to the tendency of members of theCx. pipiens complex to shelter in manmade structures.Anopheles coustani is a large dark mosquito that is often mistaken for An. hyrcanus. Itslarvae inhabit undrained swamps of the Hula Valley in Israel, and the species has beenreported in Oman and suspected in Saudi Arabia. As swamps have been drained, it hascontinued to survive in stagnant pools, but its populations have decreased. It feeds onman but prefers animals. Appendix A.1. lists the distribution of mosquitoes in theMiddle East. Vector ecology profiles of the Middle East mosquitoes are summerized inAppendix B.1.Vector Surveillance and Suppression. Epidemics of West Nile fever are infrequent,and continued long-term surveillance for virus activity can rarely be justified whenconsidering other health care demands. Reduction of mosquito populations by ULVspraying may be useful as a means of disease control. The most feasible long-termcontrol strategies involve reducing vector breeding by environmental managementtechniques. Personal protective measures to prevent mosquito bites are the mostpractical means of avoiding infection with WNV. Consult TIM 13, Ultra Low VolumeDispersal of Insecticides by Ground Equipment; TIM 24, Contingency Pest ManagementPocket Guide; and TIM 40, Methods for Trapping and Sampling Small Mammals forVirologic Testing. Also see vector surveillance and suppression under malaria, page 71.N. Sindbis Virus.Sindbis virus belongs to the genus Alphavirus in the family Togaviridae. It is closelyrelated to the Western equine encephalitis complex. The incubation period is less than aweek and symptoms may include fever, headache, rash, and joint pain. Syndromesresulting from Sindbis virus infection have been called Ockelbo disease in Sweden,Pogsta disease in Finland, and Karelian fever in the former Soviet Union. No fatal caseshave been reported.Military Impact and Historical Perspective. Sindbis virus was first isolated in 1952from Culex mosquitoes collected in the village of Sindbis north of Cairo. A role inhuman disease was recognized in 1961 when Sindbis virus was isolated from patientswith fever in Uganda. Although outbreaks of Sindbis virus have caused significant104