UC Mosquito Research Program: History


Carl Mitchell 1972-1976	Russell Fontaine 1976-1986	Bruce Eldridge 1986-2000	James Lyons 2001-2002	Gregory Lanzaro 2002-present

Brief History of the University of California Mosquito Research Program
By Bruce F. Eldridge, Director, 1986-2000
Overview and Timeline

Introduction

The University of California has been involved in research on the biology and control of mosquitoes for as long as organized mosquito control operations have been carried out in the state. Some of the earliest work was that carried out by Professor C. W. Woodworth on salt marsh mosquitoes in 1903, and by Professor H. J. Quayle in 1905.

In 1906 Dr. Quayle wrote University of California Bulletin 178, entitled Mosquito Control. The work involving Anopheles mosquitoes carried out by Professor William B. Herms in Penryn in 1910 is well known. Other UC faculty doing research on mosquitoes in the period before World War II include Dr. Stanley Freeborn, Dr. John N. Force, Professor M. A. Stewart, Professor W. M. Hoskins, Professor Charles Gilman Hyde, Dr. Charles M. Wheeler, Dr. Thomas H. G. Aitken, Dr. William C. Reeves, and Dr. G. F. MacLeod. The purpose of this paper is not to review these early contributions, but to review the recent history of the program.

Origin of the Present Program

The 1950s saw the close of the brief post-World War II period during which DDT was the most widely used material for mosquito abatement. Physiological resistance to DDT by mosquitoes in California was reported in 1949, and during the next few years resistance to a number of other organochlorine compounds and to some organophosphates was detected as well. In addition to pesticide resistance, and associated control failures, came increasing pressure from several quarters for a reduction in the use of broad spectrum insecticides for insect control, including mosquito control.

These factors contributed gradually to an awareness in the state for the need for an integrated research effort to support mosquito control operations. During the 1950s and 1960s research on the biology, control and public health importance of mosquitoes was intensified by both the University of California and the Bureau of Vector Control (BVC), of the State Department of Public Health.

During this period, a mosquito research program was begun at UC Riverside. The BVC was organized on July 1, 1947, and included operational research as one of its objectives. In 1950, a formal procedure for review and recommendation of these operational investigations was established as a result of a cooperative agreement between BVC and the California Mosquito Control Association (now the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California).

Need for Greater Coordination

The scope of research on mosquitoes conducted by various public agencies in California was reviewed by CMCA in 1955. In 1958, the CMCA felt a need for greater coordination of mosquito research activities in the state, and consequently established a Research Committee on March 21, 1958. The establishment of the CMCA Research Committee further increased the emphasis on expansion and coordination of mosquito research in California. In September of 1959, the Research Committee presented recommendations for establishment of a source of funding for a program of research on “mosquitoes and other vectors." Recommendations included, among other things, the establishment of a center for mosquito research at UC Davis, and establishment of funds for operation of a mosquito research program within the budget of the BVC.

The following year (1960), the Research Committee submitted a position paper outlining needs for mosquito research in California. Efforts to expand the research program and to achieve greater coordination continued. In 1963 there appeared a joint report on mosquito control research by the State Department of Public Health and the University of California. Coupled with this report was the establishment of the “Joint Committee of the State Department of Public Health and the University of California on Research on Arthropods of Health Importance” to coordinate research efforts.

In addition, the CMVCA Research Committee resolved that both programs needed expansion, greater funding, and greater coordination. Between May of 1963 and January 1969, 13 meetings of the Joint Committee were held. In 1965, UC published Proposed Expanded Program of the University of California for the Control of Mosquitoes Affecting the Health and Well Being of Man. The proposal was strongly supported by both BVC and CMVCA. In the course of acting upon requests for funding for mosquito control research from both BVC and UC in 1965, a legislative conference committee decreed that BVC discontinue State Public Health Department-staffed mosquito control research.

Legislature Authorizes Expenditure

Compliance to this was accomplished by a contract of $123,385 for research to the University from BVC for FY 1965-66 utilizing BVC research personnel. For 1966-67, the Legislature authorized an expenditure of $200,000 for UC mosquito research but provided only $100,000 from the State Water Fund. They also transferred $115,815 from the Department of Public Health to UC. This was divided, in turn, between the School of Public Health ($32,500) and the Division of Agriculture ($84,315) for operation of the Fresno Field Laboratory (now the Mosquito Control Research Laboratory at the Kearney Agricultural Center).

The use of the research funds by UC was guided by a committee (Ray F. Davis, Chairman; Richard M. Bohart; Glenn E. Carman; Donald A. Chant; and J. E. Swift), with the recommendations being submitted to the Joint Committee for review and approval. In 1970, Senator Fred W. Marler, Jr. of Redding introduced Senate Bill 310. The bill called for the appropriation of $325,000 for mosquito control research in agricultural sciences and $50,000 for mosquito control research in the School of Public Health, Berkeley. A companion bill (311) called for the appropriation of $102,000 for personnel in the Department of Public Health to support mosquito abatement. The funds were finally appropriated for 1972-73, and included $200,000 in addition to the $100,000 State Water Fund money.

This appropriation represents the beginning of the UC Mosquito Research Program in its present form. The former research guidance committee (the Smith Committee) was replaced by the Mosquito Research Technical Committee with Dr. James Kendrick as Chairman. Other members included Charles Schaefer, Robert Washino, Don Womeldorf, and Mir Mulla. Mel Oldham served as an ex-officio member as Chairman of the CMVCA Research Committee.

'Specify and Evaluate Priority Research Problems'

An advisory committee on mosquito research was appointed by the UC President in 1972 with the following charge: "This committee will advise the President on the allocation of State funds earmarked for mosquito research. It will also specify and evaluate priority research problems that need investigation, as well as reviewing and evaluating the University’s ongoing program in mosquito research."

The Directors:

Dr. Carl Mitchell, founding director, 1972-1976

Dr. Russell Fontaine, 1976-1986

Dr. Bruce Eldridge, 1986-2000

Dr. James Lyons (emeritus professor), 2001-2002 (interim director)

Dr. Gregory Lanzaro, 2002-present

Also, in 1972, Dr. Carl Mitchell was hired as a cooperative extension specialist to coordinate the program. For the following year (1973), $300,000 was appropriated in addition to the $100,000 water funds. In 1976, Dr. Mitchell resigned to take a position with the Centers for Disease Control, USPHS, and Dr. Russell Fontaine was hired to replace him. Dr. Fontaine served until his retirement in 1986. Dr. Bruce Eldridge assumed the position in 1986 and retired in 2000. Dr. James Lyons of the Department of Vegetable Crops, UC Davis served as interim director in 2001. In August of 2002, Dr. Gregory Lanzaro took over as director of the Mosquito Research Program.

Except for range adjustments for salaries to the $300,000 provided in 1972, there were no major changes to the state funding level of the program from 1972 until 2004. For 2003, the total amount budgeted was $578,947. In 2004 the Mosquito Research Program took a 27 percent budget cut receiving a base budget of $424,208. In terms of real dollars the Program currently is operating with the smallest amount of state support in it’s history. The budget cut of 2004 came at a time when the need for research on mosquito transmitted diseases in California was never greater. The spread of West Nile virus across the continental United States was complete in 2003 when California experienced 3 human cases.

It was anticipated that 2004 would see a far greater number of cases and by the end of that year this expectation was met when the number of human cases of West Nile disease in California reached 819. In response to the impending threat of West Nile and the withdrawal of state support for mosquito research the Mosquito Research Program initiated an effort to obtain funding from sources outside the state. In March of 2003 the Program submitted a grant application to the National Institutes of Health for research on the control of Culex mosquitoes, the principal vectors of West Nile virus in California. This proposal was funded with a grant of $3.5 million for the period September 2003 through February 2008.

Small Grants to Individual Investigators

For years, the Program had facilitated the acquisition of extramural funds for mosquito research by providing small grants to individual investigators who used these funds to generate preliminary data for larger grant applications. However, the 2003 Culex control program marked the first time in its history that the Mosquito Research Program served to coordinate, submit and administer an extramurally funded research project. There have been many notable contributions to mosquito control investigators participating in the program. Research on arbovirus disease ecology in the state has attracted worldwide attention.

Research on biological control agents and on biodegradable, safe insecticides have contributed to the remarkable reduction in conventional pesticide use for mosquito control in California. The program faces the future strongly grounded in its original basic philosophy: to support, through research, means of improving the quality of life for California citizens by controlling vectors of human disease as well as by reducing the application of toxic chemicals to the environment.

Overview and Timeline