Mosquito community and West Nile virus risk on a National Guard training base in Oklahoma

Abstract

Military bases are important areas for mosquito surveillance to maintain active duty combat readiness and protect training exercises. The aim of this study was to assist Camp Gruber National Guard training facility personnel to assess their mosquito community and West Nile virus (WNV) risk using biweekly sampling of 50 sites. Between May and October 2018, 10,259 adult female mosquitoes consisting of 6 genera and 26 species were collected over 662 trap-nights using 2 trap types. The most commonly collected genus was Culex (72.2% of total), followed by Psorophora (13.3%) and Aedes (10.2%). Of note, most of the medically important species were collected in the area containing troop living quarters, including 1 WNV-positive pool of Culex tarsalis. Two specimens of Aedes aegypti were collected around a vehicle storage area. While smaller in land mass size than many other active military bases in Oklahoma, the diversity of species at Camp Gruber was comparable to collections from 4 larger bases in Oklahoma. These data demonstrate the need for regular season-long mosquito monitoring of training bases to protect the health of active duty and reserve military personnel.