A public health entomologist says the mosquito-borne Zika virus is just one of several health-related issues likely to face central Kentuckians in the years ahead.
Mosquitoes are also not the only insects that may carry viruses.
Dr. Grayson Brown, who heads the University of Kentucky’s Public Health Entomology Lab, participated in last week’s Zika Summit in downtown Lexington. Brown says locally-transmitted Zika may not soon surface in the Bluegrass.
But, the entomologist says, other diseases could cause concerns in the future. “Could be Mayaro, could be yellow fever. Like I said, we’ve got yellow fever victims buried right here in Lexington,” said Brown.
The Lexington entomologist says there are a number of viruses that have a tendency to mutate and cause health threats.
“And it doesn’t matter if Zika comes here or not in that sense because if Zika doesn’t come here, well then the next one will. And if it’s not the next one, it will be the one after that. Sooner or later there’s going to be one here that we’re going to have to deal with,” explained Brown. “It’s going to be like this or worse.”
Brown says transmission of disease by ticks is even more worrisome. He says there were more cases of tick-borne disease last year than have ever been reported for the West Nile virus.
