New Tool Helps Trap Mosquitoes That Spread Zika
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- With rainy season blowing in concerns about Zika are rising. Mosquito Control is getting hundreds of calls a day from people wanting spraying in their neighborhoods.
While crews are out all over Broward and Miami-Dade killing the pests, they're now using a new tool more to detect the Aedes Aegypti - the kind of mosquito that can carry the Zika virus. They're not meant for large scale mosquito kills. They're for trapping and identifying where they are.
The setup looks like a lunch cooler and thermos, but it's actually a mosquito trap. It's put into shady places where this type of mosquito likes to hang out, near areas where someone has the virus.
Related: CDC Says Zika Definitely Causes Severe Birth Defects
It uses melting dry ice to lure the mosquito and tricks it into thinking its buzzing around humans. When it gets close a fan sucks it into a trap.
"When it (dry ice) evaporates the carbon dioxide goes into the tube and it releases at this nozzle," explains Anh Ton of Broward Mosquito Control. "The mosquito gets attracted to the carbon dioxide because that's what human beings produce and that's why they bite us," he said. "When it releases the mosquitoes fly around the area and the fan will suck the mosquito in."
Related: Senate Passes Zika Funding Measure As Concerns Grow In Florida
Right now, Broward has eight of those contraptions and Miami-Dade has 30. They can cost up to $600 and there's a huge back order.
"We made some of these traps ourselves," Ton explained while showing a handmade contraption. "We bought the material at a local store. The sewing is done by one of our administrative staff and it does the exact same thing as the other trap does," he said. "And we can do this for about 50 dollars."
Broward Mosquito Control hopes to have up to 200 of these traps. Some them we'll get from the state and others they will buy and they will make more.
Experts say we can all do our part in preventing the spread of Zika starting in our own homes. Click here for tips on how to prevent the spread of Zika.
Click here for more information on the Zika virus.
