This year's devastating floods have created difficult times for many people in the Midwest, but they have created nirvana for mosquitoes.
Kansas City and the surrounding area could potentially become a hotbed for mosquito-borne viruses such as West Nile virus in the coming years due to rising temperatures and more frequent flooding, predicted by climate experts.
“Once that flood [subsides]and you have a lot of standing water reservoirs, then the mosquito populations can really thrive and you'll see a real big increase in both populations and then in some cases a disease if a pathogen is circulating in the area,” he says. Cory Morin, an associate professor specializing in zoonotic diseases and environmental health at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington.
Some health experts, however, warn that Missouri is ill-prepared to deal with the diseases they can carry.
West Nile virus is arriving
West Nile virus, which first appeared in the United States 20 years ago, has already been reported in the Midwestern states this year, even before the typical start of the season.
Although mosquitoes are usually seen as little more than a nuisance, a single bite changed Rebecca O'Sullivan's life.
“I lost the ability to count,” says O'Sullivan. “I couldn't do basic addition and subtraction.”
Rebecca O'Sullivan of Wichita, Kansas, was forced to quit her job after contracting West Nile virus in 2012.
Photo: Alex Smith/KCUR
In late August 2012, when O'Sullivan was 38, she threw a small party outside at a country club in Wichita.
He says he just had a glass of wine, but woke up with what felt like the worst hangover imaginable.
“I had severe sensitivity to light,” says O'Sullivan. “My head hurt so bad I couldn't lift it. I couldn't even lie there. It was pretty brutal.”
She was initially diagnosed with the flu, but a week later, her doctor called to say she had tested positive for West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne disease.
By then, her illness had gotten much worse. She was exhausted and sometimes could not move her limbs.
He developed narcolepsy, had seizures and became depressed.
“I just remember thinking I was going to collapse at work,” says O'Sullivan. “If something is going to kill me, it's going to try to do it and I can't do it anymore.”
O'Sullivan was forced to leave her job in aerospace engineering, but it wasn't until a few years later that a neurologist discovered that the virus had caused meningoencephalitis.
O'Sullivan's case is extreme and very rare. Only about 1 in 150 people with West Nile virus develop severe symptoms. About 80% have no symptoms.
Climate change could exacerbate the problem
Climate experts say that along with flooding, parts of the Midwest could also see more drought, or possibly cycle between flood and drought.
Morin says this, too, could lead to more disease.
“With something like West Nile virus, drought can be important if it means that bird species, which are the hosts of the virus, come into much greater contact with mosquito species “because there are far fewer water sources to share, and because of that, they're concentrated in these small areas and there's a lot of opportunity for transmission between mosquitoes and birds,” says Morin.
Rising temperatures can also lead to more mosquitoes, and this may already be happening. Since the 1980s, the mosquito season in Missouri has increased by at least 18 days, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit news and research organization.
However, experts have limited information about the mosquitoes and diseases currently active in the state.
In northwest Missouri, corn and soybean fields remain flooded months after the worst storms of the year.
Photo: Alex Smith/KCUR
A low risk strategy
In 2017, the National Association of County and City Health Officials released survey data from health departments across the country about their abilities to do things like mosquito-type testing or mosquito screening, based on guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Control and Prevention.
The team found that almost no local health departments in Missouri met the basic requirements. The same was true in Kansas and other Midwestern states, including Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska.
In recent years, Missouri State University entomologist David Claborn has conducted mosquito surveillance in Springfield, Joplin and other urban areas in the southern half of the state.
He explains that, so far, his work has shown low disease risks compared to hotspots like Florida or Louisiana. The approach of state and local health services reflects this.
“Up here, I think most people kind of figure out where the problems might be,” Claborn says. “If there is an outbreak, they have a plan in place to bring in contractors to handle mosquito control as needed.”
Claborn acknowledges that his surveillance does not rule out disease in the state, however, and as the mosquito outlook continues to change, experts say Missouri's approach is not enough to stay on top of the problem.
“The key to dealing with these particular diseases is to be proactive,” says Dr. Oscar Alleyne, an epidemiologist with the National Association of County and City Health Officials, based in Washington, DC.
Alleyne says if cities and counties aren't doing this work, there's only so much a state can do to prevent these diseases from taking hold.
“In a true, comprehensive response, it's a local business that needs to have that strength and support in order for us to be successful,” says Alleyne.
Lanny Franks, a fifth-generation farmer from Rushville, Missouri, says this year's flooding is as bad as he's ever seen.
Photo: Alex Smith/KCUR
Lack of resources
Alleyne says some Midwest health departments have stepped up their game and others have managed to maintain a strong mosquito program since the early years of West Nile virus.
Nebraska, for example, produces weekly reports on the types of mosquitoes and diseases found in its counties.
However, none of the health departments in the Kansas area currently monitor mosquitoes or do routine mosquito control. This includes health departments in Kansas City, Missouri and Jackson, Cass, Platte and Clay counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyatt counties in Kansas.
Jackson County Health Department spokeswoman Kayla Parker explains the reason is simple.
“We don't really have the local resources to do a program like this,” Parker says.
State-level efforts in Missouri have also been limited.
After West Nile emerged, Missouri received about half a million dollars a year for mosquito work from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Today, aside from some occasional federal Zika grants and state funding that pays for the work of Dr. Claorn, the health department's annual mosquito budget averages $160,000.
Dr. Alleyne says that even if outbreak reports led to more funding for state and local health agencies, those agencies would be unprepared and unable to help people affected by it.
“By that time, you're sure to be towards the end of the mosquito season, and the ability to be comprehensive and proactive before that happens is completely gone, and at best, you can only wait until the next season to try minimize it,” says Alleyne.
West Nile virus season in the Midwest typically runs from mid-August to late September.
Rebecca O'Sullivan says this time of year makes her anxious.
Now she works to support others with the virus and has started doing advocacy to try to get neighbors and health officials to take the dangers of mosquito-borne viruses more seriously.
Seven years after contracting West Nile virus, she still struggles with health and cognitive issues, although today, she has made some peace with her condition.
“The difference is I know I will be tomorrow. It might be a little better. It could be worse, but it will be different,” says O'Sullivan. “And I have to live the best life I can.”
Alex Smith is a health reporter for KCUR. You can contact him by email at alexs@kcur.org.
