NEVBD Summer Internship 2024

  On Monday, I heard the news that would shape the rest of my week, West Nile Virus (WNV) found among 6 dead birds. Similar to how I mentioned in previous posts that the Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV) positive may have been the earliest positive (of year) in Maine history, these WNV positives, reported by the Maine CDC, are the earliest to have been found in birds. These birds were found in 5 different towns across the state and has added a spark to identification efforts this week. The Maine CDC additionally released that a human case is being investigated, but WNV was not likely to have been contracted in Maine as this person had been traveling. Additionally I was tasked with completing a literature review of recent publications for my own education and to add to the labs accessible papers to read.   West Nile Virus WNV is an RNA virus that resides in the Flavivirus genus. An infection may develop into West Nile Fever that in most extreme cases can affect the central nervous s...

 Week 8 has now come to a close and I am excited to share some new information with you all. This week there was 3 main tasks; completion of the UMaine long-term surveillance transects in Wells, my first solo experience setting gravid traps for the Pesticide Resistance project, and aiding as a scribe for a small mammal trapping project.  University of Maine Long-Term Surveillance To start this post off, there was lots of work to complete for the UMaine project. Before I can begin to sample the area, it is helpful to use flagging tape to mark out the transects that I will be dragging in. There is 10 transects that consist of 100 meters where every 10 meters the flag must be checked for ticks. To streamline this process, each 10 meters was marked and labeled so that anyone could perform this surveillance in an effective fashion. The time-consuming aspect of doing this, was that the previous start and end markers I placed were not universally 100 meters. Members of the UMaine coo...

  This past week consisted of much of the same experiences as previous week's. Because of this, I thought I would take the time to include some photos of what I have been doing instead of reexplaining my week to you all. Hope you enjoy. Mosquito egg rafts, collected from Gravid trap Hay broth trash barrel (for Gravid trap) Identified mosquitos from a light/CO2 trap in Aroostook County  Mosquito pools packaged to be sent to HETL (green) and USCDC (red) Set up start and end markers for transects of the UMaine Longterm Surveillance project Went flagging this week in Cape Elizabeth for state surveillance and blood-meal projects 

This week had a lot of different activities. To start the week I spent a majority of my time working on mosquito identification. There is a large number of unidentified mosquitos in the labs freezer that have either been collected from resting boxes or CDC light/CO 2   traps. Since I am still fairly new at this, I was instructed to help out with the resting box samples as the number of mosquitos collected is generally lower. This is a more effective way to learn since I do not become overwhelmed, and my work can be more accurately double checked by research assistants. Of the mosquitos identified, we have begun to separate the inventory according to where the specimen will be transported to for testing. From July to August or until the first mosquito positive for EEE/WNV,   Culiseta melanura, Cs. morsitans, Culex pipiens, and Cx. restuans , will be sent to the Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL). The JCV testing will now be directed to the Federal CDC, but...

 As the lab has been gearing up for mosquito intensive work, this past week winded down on field work. Preparation, explanation, and identification were major themes this week.  Wells Reserve, sunrise 7/2/24 Mosquito Identification   Starting off, my Monday was almost exclusively focused on mosquito identification. In doing so, I was able to assist a research assistant in the lab in IDing mosquitos collected from CDC light traps. Of the mosquitos I looked at, there was a different purpose in identification then typical, reference specimen. Over time training and reference specimen used by the lab may lose distinguishable body parts including scales, legs, abdomen, and even heads. This makes it difficult to practice skills and use these mosquitos as a reference when identifying specimen to send to the state for testing. The majority of mosquitos I sorted were  Coquillettidia perturbans  which is a vector for West Nile virus (WNV). In the sample sorted there was 7...

 Hi everyone, and welcome back! We are now one-week away from the midpoint of my internship and everything is ramping up! Next week I will be in the midst of mosquito season as our state surveillance will be taking greater priority. This means that I will be spending more time driving to sites to place and collect from traps. This traps will include resting boxes and light/CO 2  traps which I have previously mentioned, and a third, called a gravid trap. I will get into this more when it is applicable, but much of this past week has consisted of helping in preparation for the mosquito season.    As the week began, I spent almost 2 whole days at the Wells Reserve. While as some of you may remember, on Tuesday mornings I have been participating in bird banding by way of collecting exotic tick samples, this week had an additional duty. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with some members of the UMaine Cooperative Extension as they began to establish a long-term ti...