Alumna Sarah Abussa Reports on Field Work in Montserrat
Greetings from Montserrat!
Writing this from the veranda of the “Taj Mahal” – a house in Old Towne currently
home to Coral Cay Conservation in Montserrat. The view is magnificent - you can see
the Soufrière Hills volcano (and smell it on some days) and much of the shoreline.
I’ve been here for nearly a month doing research for my master’s degree in infectious
disease epidemiology. I’m working in spatial epidemiology focusing on vector-borne
diseases.
This summer I’m collaborating with the Montserrat Department of Environmental Health to survey mosquito populations in residential areas. We’re particularly interested in the distribution of Aedes aegypti, “the dengue mosquito.” There hasn’t been a reported case of dengue on the island in a few years, but chikungunya cases have begun popping up since the initial introduction of the virus to the Caribbean in late 2013.
I’ve been shadowing the vector control officers as they conduct residential inspections. Anything that can hold water is a potential breeding site for mosquitoes. The vector control team will go around and do household inspections to find source of standing water and remind everyone of the precautions they can take to prevent mosquitoes from breeding around their homes. We check flower pots, buckets, water drums, and garbage bins, and if there are larvae in any, I collect some and bring them back to the lab to identify them.
I’m here for another six weeks, at the end of which I’ll be able to map the samples that have been collected to get a better idea of the spatial distribution of mosquitoes with vector capacity. Knowing where the mosquitoes are breeding can inform control strategies as well as give us some idea of the relative risk of disease transmission based on where you live in Montserrat. I’ve also been learning more about the ecology of the island – when I’m not collecting I get to explore the hiking trails and snorkel the reefs. Several acacia scratches and a jellyfish sting later, I’ve seen so many unique critters and looked out on the sea from nearly every angle. I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks have in store and I look forward to my return to Montserrat!