Evaluation of the Efficacy of 1-octen-3-ol and Carbon Dioxide Chemoattractants with Mosquitoes and Bloodmeal Analysis of <i>Culex</i> Mosquito spp. in Lancaster County, Nebraska

The purpose of mosquito-borne disease surveillance is to assess the risk of pathogen transmission by assessing mosquito populations and the prevalence of disease pathogens in those populations. West Nile virus (WNV) is an important mosquito-borne virus in Nebraska, and can be transmitted by several mosquito species found in Lancaster Dyar & Knab. These species are ornithophilic, yet many studies indicate a shift in host feeding to mammalian in late summer months. One-octen-3-ol (octenol) can be isolated from bovine breath and mammalian sweat, mimicking a mammalian host. Here we present findings of a two year study. A chemoattractant study using CDC light traps baited with either dry ice, 1 octenol gel pack, 6 octenol gel packs, 10 ml of liquid octenol, 20 ml of liquid octenol, or no attractant. Our results demonstrated that traps with CO2 collected more mosquitoes than traps with octenol or no attractant. In the bloodmeal analysis, humans were the primary host. We were not able to detect a host shift in host use from avian to mammalian utilizing octenol as a chemoattractant as the majority of bloodmeals were human.