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If I recall correctly, that was done in Panama by the canal builders; one of the reasons they were successful was because they wiped out mosquitoes in the regio
by DougWebb 10y ago
If I recall correctly, that was done in Panama by the canal builders; one of the reasons they were successful was because they wiped out mosquitoes in the region, and protected the workers from malaria.
Their method was to put a bit of gasoline in all of the swamps. The thin layer of gas on the water surface killed the larvae. It probably caused lots of other environmental damage too though, so a different approach would be needed today.
- maxerickson 10y agoMalaria used to be endemic in much of the US. http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/elimination_us.html I guess they were pretty close to eradicating mosquitoes in transmission areas once they started the control effort.
- bradstewart 10y agoA similar tactic was used in Cuba and New Orleans to combat yellow fever. [1] They used a layer of oil rather than gasoline though. [1] http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/yellowfever/new_strategies/ http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/yellowfever/new_strategies/