Hoping to learn how to better curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus, University of California researchers are teaming up with mosquito abatement experts and industry partners on a five-year, $3.7 million research project.

The study, now in its second year, focuses on Culex mosquitoes in urban and surrounding areas. These mosquitoes are major carriers of West Nile virus, which this year killed 18 Californians and infected more than 900 others throughout the state. West Nile virus has been identified in 54 of the state's 58 counties so far this year.

"Our overall research goal is to improve strategies for controlling Culex mosquitoes by modifying methods for applying chemical insecticides, developing novel techniques for monitoring resistance to these insecticides, and improving methods for trapping older female Culex mosquitoes," said Gregory Lanzaro, a medical entomologist and director of the UC Mosquito Research Program at UC Davis. Lanzaro is the lead researcher on this project, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"We are aiming at effectively managing mosquito populations now, not 20 years from now," Lanzaro said. "Current emergency control programs for West Nile virus, focused largely on Culex mosquitoes, have failed to prevent virus transmission and suggest that we need to significantly improve current control strategies."

The researchers are studying sensory physiology, flight observations monitored on video and in wind tunnels, and pheromones.

Participating mosquito abatement specialists represent agencies in the Coachella Valley; the Los Angeles area; and Merced, Fresno and Shasta Counties.

More information about the UC Mosquito Research Program, established in 1972, is available online at http://www.ucmrp.ucdavis.edu.