Comparison of the presence of ZIKV in Aedes sps. mosquitoes and ZIKV serum positives in humans between New Jersey, Florida, and Puerto Rico from 2015-2019

Across the course of time, finding ways to control insects and the destructive effects that they can cause has been a challenge for humankind. Diseases like the Zika virus canbe transmitted to humans via two common mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse); which are found in New Jersey, Florida, and Puerto Rico, Aedes mosquitoes facilitated the movement of the ZIKV pathogen from one tropical part of the world, Africa, to another, South America, later moving north to tropical US regions. This study included an analysis of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes to determine if the virus has the capacity to survive in New Jersey, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The incidence of ZIKV in three different United States temperature zones were compared todetermine differences in the infection rate of ZIKV. This study explored ZIKV, its global movement and how the media affected the average person’s view of their risk of contracting this viral pathogen. Thus, requests for ZIKV testing of self-identified at-risk individuals were evaluated. Because ZIKV can cause a severe birth defect syndrome, the World Health Organization, declared ZIKV as a global pandemic in February 2016. The pandemic resulted in infants born with deformity across South America, the Caribbean and United States, including Florida and Puerto Rico.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference