Advertisement
Southwick has been working the past two summers for the La Crosse County Health Department looking for two new species.
But a week ago, she identified the new species in the town of Shelby.
“I was running out of time, and I didn’t expect to find anything,” Southwick said.
She sent several samples from an ornamental pond and storm sewers in Wedgewood Valley to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where scientists confirmed the species, ochlerotatus japonicus, the first time it has been found in La Crosse County.
Today is her last day with the health department before heading off to veterinary school at the UW-Madison.
As a scientist, she said it was a dream come true.
“It’s interesting, it’s exciting — but bad news,” Southwick said.
She said the species appears dangerous because it causes four different kinds of encephalitis, including La Crosse encephalitis and West Nile.
Last summer Southwick collected 800 mosquito samples from traps, tires, containers and wetland areas in nine counties as part of a grant from the health department and the Centers for Disease Control to study the species.
She didn’t find the species last summer, but she said her sample size was small and “could have overlooked burgeoning populations but probably not a well-established population.”
