Summary

In Chapter 14, "Mosquitoes: Public Health Enemy Number One," Osterholm talks about vector control methods, and the rise and fall of mosquito reduction programs. He says that serious consideration needs to be given to dropping mosquito numbers or genetically altering them to stop the spread of both crises like Zika and ongoing disease like Malaria. He shares the story of an outbreak of mosquito transmitted La Crosse encephalitis that hit his home state of Minnesota, even infecting his own son, while he worked for the state health department. After several days of sickness, he took his son to the hospital. After every test they could think of came back negative, Osterholm suggested looking for anything mosquito-transmitted, and they found La Crosse. This lead the health department to survey Osterholm’s home, finding a whole in a tree filled with water that had become a...