2012 Volume 63 Issue 1 Pages 31-43
To evaluate vector situations in the disaster areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake we conducted field studies on the occurrence of mosquitoes in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture and Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture almost every three weeks from June to October and in Minamisoma City, Fukushima Pefecture in September 2011.
For adult collections we placed dry-ice baited CDC-light traps at selected sites and captured totals of 3,088 Culex pipiens, 1,430 Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, 62 Aedes albopictus, 58 Cx. inatomii, 13 Anopheles sinensis, and 8 Ae. togoi. The first two species were captured in large quantities. Mean adult density of Cx. pipiens pallens, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus and Cx. inatomii at Tsunami sub-area was significantly higher than No Tsunami and boundary sub-area. In each study area, many larval habitats such as unmanaged paddy fields, destroyed houses, and ground pools were found with brackish water. We collected immature of An. sinensis, Cx. tritaeniorhynchus and Cx. inatomii from those larval habitats. Larvae of Cx. pipiens pallens were abundant in wells, fish tanks, irrigation channels and roadside gutters remained in the area. Also, many larvae of Ae.togoi were collected at a high rate from exposed septic tanks at the basement of destroyed houses and broken fishing boats.
