The Streets of Laredo

One of the best-known of the old cowboy folksongs has a Butler County connection. In his memoir of his days as an open-range cowboy throughout the 1870s, Frank Maynard, whose home was Towanda in the western edge of the Flint Hills, told how he came to write the lyrics to the song we know as “The Cowboy’s Lament” or “The Streets of Laredo,” which he set at the doorway of Tom Sherman’s barroom in Dodge City

Nucleic Acid Preservation Card Surveillance Is Effective for Monitoring Arbovirus Transmission on Crocodile Farms and Provides a One Health Benefit to Northern Australia

The Kunjin strain of West Nile virus (WNVKUN) is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that can infect farmed saltwater crocodiles in Australia and cause skin lesions that devalue the hides of harvested animals. We implemented a surveillance system using honey-baited nucleic acid preservation cards to monitor WNVKUN and another endemic flavivirus pathogen, Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV), on crocodile farms in northern Australia. The traps were set between February 2018 and July 2020 on three crocodile farms in Darwin (Northern Territory) and one in Cairns (North Queensland) at fortnightly intervals with reduced trapping during the winter months. WNVKUN RNA was detected on all three crocodile farms near Darwin, predominantly between March and May of each year. Two of the NT crocodile farms also yielded the detection of MVE viral RNA sporadically spread between April and November in 2018 and 2020. In contrast, no viral RNA was detected on crocodile farms in Cairns during the entire trapping period. The detection of WNVKUN and MVEV transmission by FTATM cards on farms in the Northern Territory generally correlated with the detection of their transmission to sentinel chicken flocks in nearby localities around Darwin as part of a separate public health surveillance program. While no isolates of WNVKUN or MVEV were obtained from mosquitoes collected on Darwin crocodile farms immediately following the FTATM card detections, we did isolate another flavivirus, Kokobera virus (KOKV), from Culex annulirostris mosquitoes. Our studies support the use of the FTATM card system as a sensitive and accurate method to monitor the transmission of WNVKUN and other arboviruses on crocodile farms to enable the timely implementation of mosquito control measures. Our detection of MVEV transmission and isolation of KOKV from mosquitoes also warrants further investigation of their potential role in causing diseases in crocodiles and highlights a “One Health” issue concerning arbovirus transmission to crocodile farm workers. In this context, the introduction of FTATM cards onto crocodile farms appears to provide an additional surveillance tool to detect arbovirus transmission in the Darwin region, allowing for a more timely intervention of vector control by relevant authorities

Tennant Creek report, mosquito survey Tennant Creek, 2-6 February 2009

The Operations Manager and a Technical Officer of Medical Entomology (ME) went to Tennant Creek on 2-6 February 2009. The purpose of the ME visit was to introduce the local Environmental Health Officer to the Tennant Creek mosquito survey and control program, to carry out house to house receptacle surveys, as a follow up from the Aedes aegypti incursion in 2004, and to carry out a general inspection of potential mosquito breeding sites after recent significant rain (348.2mm TCK/Jan) and flooding in the Barkly region.Date:2009-0

Tennant Creek report, mosquito survey Tennant Creek, 2-6 February 2009

The Operations Manager and a Technical Officer of Medical Entomology (ME) went to Tennant Creek on 2-6 February 2009. The purpose of the ME visit was to introduce the local Environmental Health Officer to the Tennant Creek mosquito survey and control program, to carry out house to house receptacle surveys, as a follow up from the Aedes aegypti incursion in 2004, and to carry out a general inspection of potential mosquito breeding sites after recent significant rain (348.2mm TCK/Jan) and flooding in the Barkly region

Tennant Creek report, mosquito survey Tennant Creek, 2-6 February 2009

The Operations Manager and a Technical Officer of Medical Entomology (ME) went to Tennant Creek on 2-6 February 2009. The purpose of the ME visit was to introduce the local Environmental Health Officer to the Tennant Creek mosquito survey and control program, to carry out house to house receptacle surveys, as a follow up from the Aedes aegypti incursion in 2004, and to carry out a general inspection of potential mosquito breeding sites after recent significant rain (348.2mm TCK/Jan) and flooding in the Barkly region

Katherine and Mataranka survey report 12 to 14 February 2014

Medical Entomology of the Department of Health visited Katherine and Mataranka between 12th and 14th February 2014 to carry out mosquito surveillance and control due to high rainfall (417mm) that occurred in Katherine between 1st January and the 2nd February 2014. Operations included larval mosquito surveys at known potential mosquito breeding sites in Katherine based on the Katherine 2006 flood report, setting of adult mosquito CO2 baited EVS traps and exotic mosquito larval surveys at various locations in Katherine and Mataranka to confirm the absence of the dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti and other exotic mosquito species