Re:Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes
by maxerickson on Wednesday April 20, 2016 @02:09PM
(#11536440)
Malaria used to be endemic in much of the US.
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.
Re:Let's Kill All the Mosquitoes
by bradstewart on Wednesday April 20, 2016 @02:14PM
(#11536473)
A 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/
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.