The recent outbreak of two mosquito-borne illnesses has U.S. health officials worried.
Many have heard of West Nile, which recently put Dr. Anthony Fauci in the hospital for a week. Now, another lesser-known mosquito-borne illness is causing concern, prompting Massachusetts health officials to urge residents to do what they can to avoid the insect's bite.
But are these pesky insects really as bad as they're made out to be?
RELATED STORY | Health officials warn of 2 mosquito-borne disease outbreaks. Here's how to avoid them
Entomologist Sammy Ramsey — aka "Dr. Buggs" — joined Scripps News to explain why the public has such a bad perception of mosquitoes, and what he thinks can fix it.
"One of the most concerning things about mosquitoes is that many of the diseases that they spread — some of the ones that are not particularly concerning, many of the ones that are very concerning — that several of them just have really similar symptoms," said Ramsey. "And so if you have been bitten by mosquitoes and you have a fever, it's best for you not to just assume 'Oh, this is a normal thing,' but to actually seek help because it's within the first couple of days where it's very, very, very imperative that you seek some level of help for potential diseases that could be mosquito-borne illnesses."
The increased urgency about mosquitoes comes after an elderly Michigan man caught eastern equine encephalitis — or EEE — causing the town of Plymouth to close its parks and fields from dawn to dusk when the bugs are most active. Meanwhile, four other towns in the state are also advising people to avoid going outdoors at night.
RELATED STORY | Want mosquitoes to buzz off? Try wearing these colors
But Ramsey believes he has a better solution that doesn't require people to douse themselves in bug spray or avoid the outdoors altogether.
"Researchers tend to be very nervous about the idea of eradicating any organism. There are all kinds of non-target impacts that can happen if you get rid of an entire group of organisms," said Ramsey. "But for mosquitoes, we genuinely think that the benefits outweigh the risks, and it might just be worthwhile for us to eradicate all of them."
"These creatures transmit so many diseases, from dengue to malaria to eastern equine encephalitis," added Ramsey. "In many of them, even when people survive, it dramatically decreases the quality of life. And so while I defend a lot of bugs out here, the mosquitoes may be beyond my capacity to effectively defend."
RELATED STORY | Las Vegas is buzzing with a record number of mosquitoes, and many are carrying viruses
Ramsey acknowledged that eliminating an entire species would typically have far-reaching effects on an ecosystem, but noted that he doesn't believe that is the case with mosquitoes.
"Ecologically, we're not sure that eradicating them would impact any other organisms," he said. "There are no creatures out there that just eat mosquitoes or just eat one species of mosquito."
