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Combined Sewage Overflows (CSO) Are Major Urban Breeding Sites for Culex quinquefasciatus in Atlanta, Georgia

A longitudinal study of mosquito ecology in Tanyard Creek, an urban stream in Atlanta, GA, that receives combined storm and waste water effluent from the Atlanta combined sewage overflow system, was undertaken in 2006. Culex quinquefasciatus was the dominant species found, but Culex restuans was also abundant during the spring with limited numbers of Culex nigripalpis and Anopheles punctipennis also collected. Significant differences in mosquito densities were found with greater densities associated with side pools of water and stagnant water. Mosquito numbers are regulated largely by flooding of the stream by effluent discharges exceeding 15 kgal/min. These floods are associated with significant immediate reductions, but not complete elimination, of mosquitoes from Tanyard Creek. Mosquito numbers rebound within 5–10 days after such floods and rapidly reach high densities.

Received November 21, 2006. Accepted for publication April 7, 2007.

Acknowledgments: The authors thank Jerry Kerce of Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness to alerting us to the potential of CSO streams for mosquito breeding and for his support and enthusiasm for this project. Special thanks to John Shimmin, CSO facilities manager for City of Atlanta, for generously sharing both his knowledge of CSOs and information on CSO events in Atlanta; to Dr. Robert A. Wirtz, CDC, for his critical review of the manuscript; to Jodi Vander Eng for producing the map of Tanyard Creek CSO (Figure 1); and to Dr. Ellen Dotson, the mentor of Lisa Calhoun. In addition, we acknowledge the assistance of Stephen Burkot in sampling Rock Creek.

Financial support: This research was supported, in part, by the Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Fellowship Program administered by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

^* Address correspondence to Thomas R. Burkot, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy., MS F-42, Atlanta, GA 30341. E-mail: Tburkot{at}cdc.gov

Authors’ addresses: Lisa M. Calhoun, Melissa Fox, LeeAnn Jones, Karina Gunarto, Raymond King, Jacquelin Roberts, and Tom Burkot, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy., MS F-42, Atlanta, GA 30341, Telephone: +1 (770) 448-3607, Fax: +1 (770) 488-4258, E-mail: Tburkot{at}cdc.gov.

Reprint requests: Tom Burkot, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy., MS F-42, Atlanta, GA 30341, E-mail: Tburkot{at}cdc.gov.