Monday, November 26, 2012

NY TIMES:

Maps show coastal and low-lying areas that would be permanently flooded, without engineered protection, in three levels of higher seas. Percentages are the portion of dry, habitable land within the city limits of places listed that would be permanently submerged.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/24/opinion/sunday/what-could-disappear.html?ref=sunday

BACK IN ACTION

Team Skeeter is back in action working out of an office in DUMBO Brooklyn (which is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy). We're happy to have the wonderful Mary Kerr on board.
More soon,
Jesse

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

CDC reports West Nile in US is worst on record

2012 West Nile virus update: November 14

From: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/index.htm

As of November 14, 2012, 48 states have reported West Nile virus infections in people, birds, or mosquitoes. A total of 5,128 cases of West Nile virus disease in people, including 229 deaths, have been reported to CDC. Of these, 2,601 (51%) were classified as neuroinvasive disease (such as meningitis or encephalitis) and 2,527 (49%) were classified as non-neuroinvasive disease.

The 5,128 cases reported thus far in 2012 is the highest number of West Nile virus disease cases reported to CDC through the second week in November since 2003. Almost 80 percent of the cases have been reported from 12 states (Texas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, South Dakota, Michigan, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, and Ohio) and over a third of all cases have been reported from Texas.

ABOUT THE FILM:

"No animal on earth has touched so directly and profoundly the lives of so many human beings. Mosquitoes have felled great leaders, decimated armies, and decided the fates of nations. All this and she is roughly the size and weight of a grape seed."
- Author Michael D'Antonio

One of the deadliest threats to human health is a tiny, blood-sucking vampire less than a quarter inch long. Her bite is small but its impact is tremendous. Although in the last half-century dangerous diseases such as malaria, west nile virus and dengue fever have been mostly restricted to the developing world, globalization, foreclosed homes and climate change guarantee that such confinement is now a thing of the past.

MOSQUITO follows some of the most imaginative warriors in the war against disease as they fight to end a global (and local) crisis that now touches all of our lives. Szabolcs Marka, Luke Alphey and Andrew Githoko are soldiers on the frontlines of this battle. Authors Paul Epstein and Michael D'Antonio try to get the word out to a larger public. The film will show the personal, professional, and ethical challenges they experience in their attempt to control mosquitoes with new technologies, and offer an engaging, funny, character-driven narrative that will broaden and deepen a critical global conversation about how to save lives.