Day: August 19, 2022

When Stephen Nixon recently noticed a “beautiful” spotted lanternfly by his bag as he skateboarded in Brooklyn, he heeded the request of city officials.

He stomped on it.

“I don’t like killing things. Not many people do. I’ll catch and release cockroaches if I find them in my apartment,” Nixon said. But he said it “seems like something worse” if the insect’s population explodes.

Kill-on-sight requests in New York City and elsewhere are a part of public campaigns to fight an invasive insect now massing and feeding on plants around much of the eastern United States. Pretty with red wing markings, the spotted lanternfly is nonetheless a nuisance and a threat — the sort of insect that inspires people to post about squishing and stomping them on social media.

In cities, they swarm outside buildings and land on pedestrians. They excrete a sticky substance called honeydew that can collect on outdoor furniture. The sap-sucking insects also pose a danger to grapes and other agricultural crops, which is raising alarms this summer in New York state wine country.

Across mid-Atlantic states, officials are asking people to help them track and slow the insect’s spread, even if they have to put their foot down.

“Be vigilant,” said Chris Logue of New York’s Department of Agriculture.

Entered country in 2014

A native of Asia, the spotted lanternfly was first identified in the United States in 2014, northwest of Philadelphia. It’s likely that insect eggs came over with a load of landscaping stones. Eight years later, there are reported infestations in 13 states, mostly on the East Coast, according to the New York State Integrated Pest Management program at Cornell University. Individual insects have been spotted in more states, with two turning up in Iowa this summer.

The insect has been able to spread so far, so fast because it is a stealthy hitchhiker. Drivers this time of year unwittingly give lifts to adults, which look like moths, perched inside trunks, on wheel wells or on bumpers.

“Check your vehicle,” Logue said. “What you’re really after is anything that maybe is alive, that is kind of hunkered down in there and is not going to get blown off the vehicle during the trip. Really, really important.”

People also unknowingly transport spotted lanternfly eggs, which are laid later in the season. Females leave masses of 30 or more eggs on all sorts of surfaces, from tree trunks to patio furniture. Eggs laid on portable surfaces, like camping trailers and train cars, can hatch in the spring many miles away.

Spotted lanternfly fighters are doing everything from applying pesticides to cutting down trees of heaven — another invasive species that is a favored host of the spotted lanternfly. But public involvement is front and center.

In Pennsylvania, residents in quarantined counties are asked to check for the pests on dozens of items — from their vehicles to camping gear to lumber and shrubs — before heading to nonquarantined destinations.

Be merciless

Around the East, people are being asked to report sightings to help track the spread.

And if you see one? Show no mercy.

“Kill it! Squash it, smash it … just get rid of it,” reads a post by Pennsylvania agricultural officials.

New York City parks officials agree, advising: “Please squish and dispose.”

“Join Jersey’s Stomp Team” read billboards in New Jersey showing a shoe about to stamp out an insect.

Heide Estes did just that after seeing a spotted lanternfly on a Sunday walk in Long Branch, New Jersey, this month.

“I came back, and I said to my partner, ‘You know, I saw a spotted lanternfly,’ ” Estes said, “and she was like, ‘Oh, I’m sure there’s more. Let’s go look.’ “

There were more.

Her partner, an entomologist, put four in a plastic bottle to show co-workers on campus what they look like. They killed at least a dozen more. Many were massed on trees of heaven.

“Clearly, the whole spot was infested,” she said.

Nearing vineyards

Infestations in New York state had been concentrated in the metropolitan area but have spread close to the state’s wine-growing vineyards. Agricultural officials are concerned about the fate of vineyards in the Finger Lakes, the Hudson Valley and Long Island if infestations spread. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer said Sunday that the insect could cost the state millions.

“The spotted lanternfly sucks the sap out of the vines,” said Brian Eshenaur, an expert with the Cornell pest program. “And it makes them less hardy for the winter, so vines can be lost over the growing season.”

Eshenaur said they’re more likely to spread into vineyards later in the season, when trees of heaven enter dormancy.

At Sheldrake Point Winery in the Finger Lakes, vineyard manager David Wiemann said workers in the rows already know to be on guard.

“We’ve talked about how detrimental it would be to the vineyards,” Wiemann said. “So if they see one, they would let me know.”

Source: Voice of America

A smaller dose of the monkeypox vaccine appears to still be effective and can be used to stretch the current supply by five times, the European Medicines Agency said Friday, echoing a recommendation made earlier this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The EU drug regulator said in a statement that injecting people with one-fifth of the regular dose of the smallpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic appeared to produce similar levels of antibodies against monkeypox as a full dose.

The approach calls for administering Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine with an injection just under the skin rather than into deeper tissue, a practice that may stimulate a better immune response. People still need to get two doses, about four weeks apart.

The EMA said national authorities could decide, “as a temporary measure” to use smaller doses of the vaccine to protect vulnerable people during the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.

EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the decision would allow the vaccination of five times as many people with the continent’s current supply.

“This ensures greater access to vaccination for citizens at risk and health care workers,” she said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the U.S. FDA authorized a similar plan to extend the country’s monkeypox vaccine stocks. The technique has previously been used to stretch supplies of vaccines during other outbreaks, including yellow fever and polio.

The unusual recommendations from both regulators acknowledge the extremely limited global supplies of the Jynneos vaccine, originally developed against smallpox. Bavarian Nordic is the only company that makes it, and it expects to have about 16 million doses available this year. On Thursday, the U.S. also announced a new agreement with a Michigan manufacturer to help speed production of 5.5 million vaccine vials recently ordered by the government.

The EMA authorized the vaccine in July based on experimental data that suggested it would work; the World Health Organization has estimated the shot is about 85% effective at preventing monkeypox.

Globally, there are more than 40,000 cases of monkeypox, of which about half are in Europe. Earlier this week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there has been a 20% increase in cases reported in the last two weeks and that nearly all infections have been reported in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men.

Tedros said WHO was in talks with vaccine manufacturers and countries to see if any might be willing to share doses. Africa has reported the highest number of suspected monkeypox deaths and although the disease has been endemic in parts of central and west Africa for decades, it has only a small supply of vaccines being used as part of a research study.

About 98% of monkeypox cases beyond Africa have been reported in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men. WHO said there is no sign of sustained transmission beyond men who have sex with men, although a small number of women and children have also been sickened by the disease.

Monkeypox spreads when people have close, physical contact with an infected person’s lesions, their clothing or bed sheets. Most people recover without needing treatment, but the lesions can be extremely painful and more severe cases can result in complications including brain inflammation and death.

In the U.K., which at one point had the biggest outbreak outside Africa, officials said earlier this week they have seen signs the outbreak is slowing down.

Source: Voice of America