FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL

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FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES SUMMARY REPORT OF THE MAY 9, 2017 MEETING MAY MEETING OBJECTIVES To approve regular procedural

1 FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES SUMMARY REPORT OF THE MAY 9, 2017 MEETING MAY MEETING OBJECTIVES To approve regular procedural topics (agenda, report, workplan and meeting schedule). To hear committee reports. To hear Agency updates. To receive briefings and updates on current and pending issues: Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, West Nile Virus and genetically modified mosquitoes. To consider public comment. To consider Council member s comments and issues. To identify needed next steps, assignments, and agenda items for next meeting.

2 FCCMC MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control is to provide assistance and recommendations to the Commissioner of Agriculture and the legislature in all matters related to public health pest control in the State of Florida. Areas of interest and concern would include providing guidance to, and enhancing communication between, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and other appropriate agencies and interests; providing guidance to mosquito control programs and other arthropod control-related agencies to reduce duplication of efforts; maximize efficient use of existing resources; implement best management practices and available technology; evaluate arthropod control methods that both protect the public health and the State s natural environment; and to set priorities for research that is funded through Department grants. MEETING REVIEW- MAY 9, ) 11:00 AM WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS After determining a quorum was present, Council Chair Dr. Davis Daiker opened the meeting at 11:04AM. Listed below are the Council members who participated in the meeting. Council Members present: Davis Daiker, Parks Small, David Cook*, Carina Blackmore, Jorge Rey, Ed Irby, Mark Latham, Paul Linser, James Clauson, and Randy Dominy*. Dan Kline represented Ken Linthicum. Aric Larson represented David Clarke. FDACS Staff Participating: Shalom Siebert, Caitlin Gill, Frieda Lamberg Public Participation: Graham White, Rick Gleeson, Aaron Lloyd, Wayne Gale, Zane McCallister, Gary Howell, and Ruide Xue. *Participation via teleconference is italicized. 2.) CURRENT AGENDA REVIEW AND APPROVAL The Council voted unanimously to approve the agenda. 3.) PREVIOUS MEETING SUMMARY REPORT REVIEW AND APPROVAL The Council voted unanimously to approve the January 2017 Summary Report as presented. 4.) WORKPLAN AND MEETING SCHEDULE REVIEW AND APPROVAL The Council voted unanimously to approve the Workplan as presented. The Workplan will not be included as a future item to review on the Agenda. The following meeting schedule was reviewed: 2017 MEETING DATES AND LOCATIONS I. January 24 th, 2017 UF Whitney Lab II. May 9 th, 2017 Anastasia Mosquito Control District- Saint Augustine, FL III. September 26, 2017 UF Plant Science Research and Education Center- Citra, FL 2

3 2018 MEETING DATES AND LOCATIONS I. January 16 th, 2018 UF Whitney Lab 5.) SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANAGED MARSHES REPORT Doug Carlson, Chair of the Subcommittee on Managed Marshes (SOMM), provided the Council with a written update on the SOMM s activities. The written SOMM report is included as Attachment 1. The Council voted unanimously to approve the SOMM s report as presented. 6.) SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMPERILED SPECIES REPORT Ricardo Zambrano, Chair of the Subcommittee on Imperiled Species (SOIS), said that there had not been a meeting yet, and therefore there was nothing to report. 7.) AGENCY ISSUES UPDATE (FDACS: Legislative, Rules, Budget, and Organizational Updates) Dr. Davis Daiker reported that, during the legislative session, there were no changes sought to Chapter 388 Mosquito Control Law or Rule. However there have been discussions on what could be changed in the Rule. Daiker reported on structural changes within FDACS by stating, we mentioned receiving four new mosquito control (MC) positions for MC outreach. Some of them are here. We have also retasked the duties of two additional staff. We have technical support across Florida now They have been conducting needs assessments and I think it has been quite educational, because our programs range from extensive to one man programs We want FDACS to work with IFAS to get the word out on Zika and increase the boots on the ground. These positions provide help in trapping, identification and technical assistance we were able to send 4 of them to a scaled back version of the FMEL identification course. Regarding the vacant positions on the FCCMC Council, Daiker noted As far as the vacant positions on the Council, we have four names, two for each position. I am hoping with session coming to an end, then I can push a little more. Hopefully, I will have something to report in September. 12:00 Break- 10 minutes. 8.) CURRENT AND PENDING ISSUES BRIEFINGS AND UPDATES FDOH Zika Update and Arboviral Update Dr. Carina Blackmore, Florida Department of Health (FDOH), began by reporting on funding associated with the Zika virus. She stated, we are still operating on federal funds to support the Zika response. We have some funding that goes through July There had been some discussions in the session about providing funds for response, but I don t believe this panned out. Initially we received 25 million dollars for emergency response from the Governor, and we have paid most of this back. We also supported Miami with about 20 million dollars in funding for their local mosquito response. Blackmore then expounded upon the epidemiology of Zika, we have a couple of the local cases that have been reported in 2017 but we believe that they were exposed in The complications with Zika is the pregnancy aspect of the disease, whereas women are being tested late in pregnancy and most of the pregnancy occurred in 2016, and time of birth for example ends up positive for Zika. Some also had travel last year abroad, so it is difficult to determine. To date, we do not believe that we have local transmission in Miami. We are holding our breath because in 2010 the first Dengue case was diagnosed late April, so we think this could be the time for things beginning to heat up in Miami, transmission wise. We are not totally safe just yet. The outbreak in central south America has declined, so travel associated cases are fewer. If we don t have local transmission maintained from 2016, I would guess the likelihood of local transmission will be lower because of this. We have had seven babies to date- none of them to date are local. Seven babies have been diagnosed with Zika related health outcomes, 3

4 brain injuries, eye injuries, and so forth. We monitor newborns for a year because there have been some reports of late manifestation of disorder in Zika positive babies. We do anticipate that we will see microcephaly from babies exposed in Florida. We have about 75 women that we know of who are pregnant and have not given birth, that were exposed in Some of these women were tested late in pregnancy, and this number may grow. Daiker asked, of the seven births in Florida, have we had a microcephaly case? Blackmore responded, yes we have. The challenge is that microcephaly has many different causes, so we didn t track it very well so we don t know what our baseline is. We want to see virus or antibody in the baby to call it Zika. All these seven are certainly individuals that have lab evidence of Zika infection. FDACS Response to Zika Update Daiker opened by speaking about establishing lines of communication with support groups. He stated that the biweekly Zika calls are good for increasing communication and sharing of information. Daiker stated, In 2016 we conducted 7 workshops in cooperation with DOH to start fostering relationships and to educate about domestic mosquito control. This year we did a second round of those workshops. This time the AMCA Train The Trainer program participated. Wayne Gale added that the first step was to create an expert panel then redo the best management practices. He stated, trainers attend a training to learn how to train others. A portion of that training was put out as a teaser, which involved working in scenarios, basically to present to folks scenarios with limitations. Daiker noted, the whole point was to get folks to understand to work with each other. The inclusion of folks from AMCA was very appreciated. Daiker added that the health presentations were not in the weeds on Zika this time, but instead on how they responded to suspected and confirmed cases. Daiker said, we also continue to offer testing for Zika, Chikungunya, and Dengue at our Kissimmee location. With the 25k from EPA, by way of Randy Dominy, we are drastically cutting the cost for shipping samples by using a solution called RNAlater. We are rolling this out. Last year we distributed over 300 BG traps, and today we are happy to say that all counties are equipped to respond to a case if they get one. We distributed an additional 100 this year. FKMCD Release of GMO Mosquitoes/Wolbachia mosquitoes Daiker read an update from Adriane Rogers, provided as Attachment 2. In discussion, Paul Linser asked, In the Wolbachia release, if they are still doing standard MC, how are they evaluating? Daiker responded that they will have a control site, and that site will receive all standard MC practices sans Wolbachia. Daiker said, I believe they did a mark recapture study. So I think there is a lot of prerelease work, and I agree I had this question initially. Paul Linser asked, who is doing the evaluation, FDACS? Daiker responded no, we went to visit the Keys, and met with MosquitoMate and Oxitec to understand how the study would be conducted. Jorge Rey asked if the trial was adult sampling only. Daiker responded, no they are doing ovicups also. Linser asked, if the trial data will be subject to the Sunshine Law. Daiker responded saying, I can t speak for Mosquito Mate. But it is under the jurisdiction of EPA. SIT/IIT Update Dr. Graham White presented an update. His presentation is available as Attachment 3. White opened by saying, As it stands, within the state of Florida, for Ae. aegypti and albopictus, we are faced with a situation, where despite the original invention of irradiation, we are now facing the eradication of the screwworm. Historically, the SIT method was used to eliminate it in the US. The method is very established. These methods were developed in the 60 s for mosquitoes. Now everyone thought it was a good idea to get SIT going again, and as far as I know the main proposal that was written was from Daniel Haan to submit rapidly for projects for response to Zika. We were informed in November that it is possible that some of that funding from DOH could be allocated to MC, but that did not happen. The proposal from Dr. Haan, with collaborators, was not selected for funding by DOH to try to eliminate Ae. aegypti. I spoke very strongly about this at the last meeting. Dr. Haan has resubmitted to the current round of grants at FDACS, and he tells me that the decisions are pending. So I want to advocate that it is time for the state to use this method. This 4

5 should be a fairly routine approach Regarding IIT, White added, Australia has created a Wolbachia carrying aegypti that prevents it from becoming a vector. If you have a Wolbachia that blocks virus, if females are liberated they will not be dangerous, they are intending on replacing the wild type female. That type of Wolbachia, Incompetent Insect Technique, could replace the wild type and would be a non vector aegypti, in the wild and in your neighborhood. This route is open to be considered, so it is not on the table at the moment but it could be if you wanted it. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is advocating for the highest standard, they want to use a strain with the incompetent, a different strain from what mosquito mate is using, and the idea is with the maximum methods, if you happened to make a mistake and release females, they would not be vectors. So that is SIT, with the intended purpose from the group in the Atomic Energy Agency. Dr. Haan is proposing to take local aegypti from Lee county or USDA in Gainesville, to mass produce, irradiate, sterilize, and mass release. Up the scale at FDACS it should be possible to say that this is needed. This is a functional proposal, and it is scalable. I feel privileged to make my point that you really need to make a judgment There are only the actual costs, there is no corporate investment here. Ed Irby asked, making incompetent vectors with Wolbachia, do they understand the mechanism or is it virus related? White responded, we do not know the mode of action, but that it does block Dengue and Chikungunya. The acute physiology is not fully understood. Blackmore stated, you connected with the folks well, the Vector Center of Excellence? Because I feel this would be a great project for that. White responded, you are right. The CDC put out a call for creating the Centers of Excellence. There are now networks across the USA. It is a fairly good assemblage of who wants to join in. It has not fully got into gear as far as who is playing what part, and there is an impressive interest in tick borne diseases and culicoides, and there is an emphasis on that rather than only on the major mosquito control. Blackmore responded, I know CDC wants it to be applied. White responded, you are right, it would be a good candidate but my concern is that it is not really a research question. It would be appropriate for a center of excellence to have oversight. I don t know that it would be easy to spare their budget. Irby asked, what is the approximate cost of Dr. Haans budget? White responded, 108k is his proposal. Wayne Gale noted I was a part of the initial group that visited IAEA to look at their technology. It is clear that Wolbachia, Oxitec, and SIT are nearly the same technique. I think they will all work. The downside with Oxitec and Wolbachia is that they are patented and regulated and in testing phase. SIT is proven technology, maybe not for mosquitoes, but certainly other insects. So what we have done is gone ahead with an agreement for technology transfer with IAEA. They have given us everything we need. We have an empty facility where we can grow mass numbers of Ae. Aegypti as part of an integrated mosquito management program. We are not looking to eradicate. We will start on an island. Part of the concern is that we really couldn t do this on the east coast because of local transmission, you don t want that because of the potential of releasing a female that might be a vector. Ours will be locally picked up mosquitoes. We have PCR capabilities. We can routinely test our mosquitoes. IAEA is very sensitive about how we roll it out. There has been push back from Oxitec, not much from Wolbachia. But because SIT has been used successfully, I think we can rule it out. There is no regulation. There is no patent. Basically you are creating an insect rearing facility. It is basically X rays. We are moving ahead. We have the technology available to us from the IAEA. Ed Irby added, I keep coming back to money. Obviously we couldn t get more money out of the legislature this year. It is not an issue with FDACS. They have a process set up through this Council to do that. However, getting it through the legislature is the issue. If you had a Yellow Fever outbreak in Miami, you are killing European tourism coming to Florida. If we could do away with screworms, we could certainly put a dent in aegypti. White responded, with coordination, you could blot out an infestation that was transmitting. Gale responded, our intent is to use it, because we have a pesticide resistance, we are looking at it as a normal everyday pary of IMM where you would try to knock the population down with traditional methods, then use SIT to decrease population even more. We plan to continue to do this forever. Just like screwworm. White noted, so the vision internationally is to offer governments the power to eliminate pests with this method. It is now available to any country that would like to do it, now we have leaders in the USA 5

6 that are doing it- these two leaders at these counties. He continued, if FDACS chooses to get involved at their level, then aegypti might get pushed back, but I do not see confirmed reports of anywhere in America of albopictus. It is fairly innocent. It is competent, but not capable. FDACS Research Update Davis Daiker noted that FDACS sent out the Request For Proposals. He stated, we received 25 that went to the Research Selection Committee. We expect to see the proposals prioritized by the middle of May. Our goal is to have the contracts in place by July 1. Daiker went on to respond to Graham White saying, Graham we are not unaware of the existence of that proposal. I agree that SIT is an easier sell because we do have the prior history. And you don t have to downplay GMO. We will give another report in September. As long as Dan put together a solid proposal and the budget makes sense, I ll leave it to the hands of the RSC. 9.) FLORIDA WHITE PAPERS UPDATE Aaron Lloyd, Pasco County Mosquito Control, presented an update stating, we have been able to separate out the chapters from the 2009 version. We have a steering committee of six people. We have assigned members to be coordinators so there is less confusion and less chapters to edit per person. We are pushing for an electronic version but the funding is still being worked out. FMCA dedicated 4k, DOH is trying to work out a contract. We are trying to respond to a timeline that DOH has for funding to cover labor costs but the backup plan is the printer paper that we would use for copying, we can go ahead and purchase. Roxanne and Carina are working on the best way with FMEL. We are looking for an August 1 st soft deadline for their revisions for the chapters. We hope that the Council will get back after 4-6 weeks for review. Daiker responded saying that the Council could always do an impromptu meeting if need be. Lloyd said, we would like to have it done by first quarter We will also have monthly steering committee meetings. 10.) COUNCIL MEMBERS COMMENTS AND ISSUES During this time the Council determined that the January 2018 meeting would be held in the UF Whitney Lab on January 16 th. 11.) GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT There is nothing to report. 12.) NEXT STEPS AND AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING The Council did not discuss items for the next meeting Agenda. 13.) Adjourn The Council voted unanimously to adjourn at 12:55 PM. 6

7 COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP AND COMMITTEES MEMBER Carina Blackmore, DVM, Ph.D. Parks Small David Cook Davis Daiker, Ph.D. (Chair) Randy Dominy Jorge Rey, Ph.D. Vacant Ed Irby Lourdes Mena Mark Latham Paul Linser, Ph.D. Ken Linthicum, Ph.D. Vacant James Clauson David Clark AFFILIATION Florida Department of Health; State Public Health Veterinarian Florida Department of Environmental Protection Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission FDACS, Bureau of Scientific Evaluation and Technical Assistance U.S. Environmental Protection Agency IFAS Florida Medical Entomological Research Laboratory Representative of Florida Environmental Group Private Citizen U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Manatee County Mosquito Control District Audubon Florida Representative of Florida Environmental Group U. S. Department of Agriculture Private Citizen Beach Mosquito Control District DEP Division of State Lands, Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund SUBCOMMITTEE ON IMPERILED SPECIES Ricardo Zambrano (Chair), Jaret Daniels (UF), Patricia Harden (Florida Defenders of the Environment), Larry Hribar (Keys MCD), Harris Walters (FDACS), Michael Hudon (IRMCD), and Lourdes Mena (USFWS). SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANAGED MARSHES Doug Carlson (Chair), John Beidler (IRMCD), Ron Brockmeyer (SJRWMD), Patrick Pitts (USFWS), Paul Haydt (SJRWMD), Stan Howarter (Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge), Shelly Redovan (LCMCD), Jorge Rey (IFAS), and Douglas Scheidt (Kennedy Space Center Ecological Program). RESEARCH SELECTION SUBCOMMITTEE Dan Kline (Chair), James Cilek (NAVY), Paul Linser (UF), Zack Prusak (The Nature Conservancy), Larry Hribar (FKMCD), Peter Jiang (Gainesville MC), and Ruide Xue (AMCD). FCCMC CONTACT INFORMATION Chair: Dr. Davis Daiker; Coordinator: Shalom Siebert; 7

8 ATTACHMENT 1 TO: FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL REPORT FROM: DOUG CARLSON, CHAIRMAN-SUBCOMMITTEE ON MANAGED MARSHES (SOMM) April 26, 2017 ***************************************************** LAST SOMM MEETING (April 19, 2017) Our last SOMM meeting was held at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR) in Titusville, Florida on April 19, Topics presented for discussion at the Business Meeting included: An update by Doug Carlson on the current status of Zika in Florida. An overview of the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA) which is an organization with a longterm goal of having a walking/bicycle trail along the entire Eastern Seaboard. Florida has already made some significant progress toward that goal. Some of the areas being considered for inclusion include mosquito control impoundments and other environmentally sensitive habitats along the coast. Long-time SOMM member Paul Hayt recently retired from the St. Johns River Water Management District and is now employed by the ECGA. Paul plans to remain a SOMM member which we welcome. An overview of the afternoon field trip was presented by Stan Howarter (USFWS/MINWR). It was the Subsided Wetland Pilot Project at the MINWR with the goal of removing muck from an interior deep pond in an impoundment and distributing the material in an area along the impoundment edge. The goal is to increase marsh elevation to a more high marsh habitat in the edge area and make the pond conducive to submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) such as chara and/or rupia. Attendees were able to observe the dredge being used for this project which was in position but not operating while we were there. NEXT SOMM MEETING (late Summer 2017) The next SOMM meeting is tentatively scheduled for late Summer 2017 in the Jacksonville area to observe some marsh restoration projects underway there. 8

9 ATTACHMENT 2 TO: FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL REPORT FROM: Adriane Rogers (FDACS) given by Davis Daiker (FDACS) May 8 th, 2017 Operating under an Experimental Use Permit issued by the US EPA, the Florida Keys MCD has recently begun a trial releasing Wolbachia infected AAEG males on Stock Island, a technology from MosquitoMate out of Kentucky. 40,000 male mosquitoes will be released each week over 12 weeks within a 10 acre test site. They are currently on the third week of releases. The MosquitoMate technology will be used in conjunction with other control strategies in the treatment area, which include homeowner education, source reduction, larviciding and targeted adulticiding when necessary, comprising a fully comprehensive integrated mosquito management regime. Populations of AAEG will be assessed using BG Sentinel traps and ovicups to monitor population levels. These results will be compared to a control site to monitor the effectiveness of the control method. In January 2017, Oxitec submitted an amendment to the FDA for the environmental assessment previously approved to release transgenic mosquitoes on Key Haven in the Florida Keys. The amendment was to include a trial release of transgenic AAEG male mosquitoes in Monroe County. This has yet to be approved. Concurrently, the FDA is in the process of finalizing a guidance document on genetically modified organisms and a jurisdictional transfer of the regulation over transgenic mosquitoes to the US EPA. 9

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FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL

FLORIDA COORDINATING COUNCIL ON MOSQUITO CONTROL FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES SUMMARY REPORT OF THE JANUARY 24, 2017 MEETING JANUARY MEETING OBJECTIVES To approve regular procedural