skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Zika-Carrying Mosquitoes Back in NM: What You Can Do

play audio
Play

Tuesday, May 23, 2017   

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico Department of Health says a species of mosquitoes that can transmit the Zika virus has been identified in Doña Ana County. It's the first time this season - and the second year in a row - that these specific species have been found in the southern part of the state.

Dr. Alfredo Vigil is a former secretary for the department. He says threats to public health funding and education in today's growing anti-science political climate are the greatest hindrances to preventing Zika and other outbreaks, and it's important for people to protect themselves.

"As much as possible, people should eliminate standing water," he says. "Secondly, people should use insect repellent in those areas where this is a risk. There've been governmental efforts to spray high-risk areas to try to decrease mosquito proliferation."

He says folks in southern New Mexico - especially mothers and women who are pregnant - would be wise to take precautions. Zika's worst effects are to children and the unborn. It can be carried and transmitted by human adults without symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and federal health departments have done well at predicting where the disease-carrying insects will be, Vigil says. However, as a mechanism of evolution, it's possible they can acclimate to more diverse environments such as southern New Mexico, where there is plenty of space for outdoor recreation in peak mosquito season.

"It's not a surprise that more mosquitoes have been found, and frankly it won't be a surprise when a few cases of actual human infection are detected," he adds.

Vigil says mosquitoes that have caused the widest concern for spreading Zika have traditionally stayed closer to warmer and more humid climates, but he warns not to underestimate their pursuit of their primary food source, human blood.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021