Armed Forces Pest Management Board

10/26/2026

A virus that until now had only infected animals has been found in a person for the first time. French authorities reported that a patient with a serious underlying illness was infected with Shamonda virus and died in early October. Investigators are still working to determine whether the virus played a role in the death and how the person was infected.

Shamonda virus is spread among livestock by tiny biting midges. It appeared in European farm animals for the first time this summer and has now been found in 12 European countries plus Jersey. Midge activity is dropping as temperatures cool, and European health agencies are monitoring closely.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is carefully monitoring the situation after the French authorities announced the first ever reported human infection with Shamonda virus (SHAV), a disease that has until now only affected animals.

10/21/2026

West Nile virus is still circulating in Italy this October. The country’s national health institute reports 770 confirmed human cases so far in 2026, up from 754 the week before.

411 neuroinvasive cases, the severe form affecting the brain and nervous system
257 cases of West Nile fever
96 asymptomatic infections found through blood donor screening

If you live or work in Italy or elsewhere in southern Europe, keep protecting against mosquito bites until cold weather arrives:

Use EPA-registered repellents such as DEET or picaridin
Wear permethrin-treated clothing outdoors
Empty standing water around your home

Source (Italian-language report):

10/19/2026

USDA has updated its playbook for responding to New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of livestock, wildlife, and pets.

The October 6 revisions cover three response documents:

Clarifies when outbreak zones can be resized based on habitat and host animals

Adds criteria for when an Infested Zone can be released

Allows states to approve animal movement inspections at temporary aggregation points

Lets slaughter-bound animals have their 72-hour movement window reset after a new inspection

Source:

APHIS develops emergency management policies to ensure the effective response to and management of animal disease outbreaks, like New World screwworm.

10/01/2026

Protect our Warfighters! The DOW FY27 Deployed Warfighter Protection (DWFP) Program is open for pre-application submissions for advanced tech to combat disease vectors like mosquitoes & ticks. Pre-App Deadline: Nov 20, 2026. Details: https://eBRAP.org/

As of April 4th 2022, eBRAP has transitioned from use of DUNS # to the UEI # issued by Sam.gov. In order for eBRAP to process any applications submitted through Grants.gov, the UEI must be entered into the Organizational Profile.

09/08/2026

Nine scientists have been named 2026 Fellows of the Entomological Society of America, an honor recognizing outstanding contributions to insect science through research, teaching, extension, administration, military service, or public engagement and science policy.

The 2026 Fellows are:

Arthur G. Appel, Auburn University
Tariq Butt, Swansea University
Dave Crowder, Washington State University
Daniel A. Hahn, University of Florida
Deborah G. McCullough, Michigan State University
Joseph E. Munyaneza, USDA Agricultural Research Service
Tom Phillips, Kansas State University
Neal M. Williams, University of California, Davis
Xuguo "Joe" Zhou, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Their work spans urban and structural pest management, biological control, sterile insect technique, forest entomology, stored product pests, pollinator ecology, and insect toxicology. The honorees will be recognized at Entomology 2026, November 8-11 in Columbus, Ohio.

Source:

Annapolis, MD; August 5, 2026—Nine scientists have been selected as new Fellows of the Entomological Society of America for their outstanding contributions to the field of entomology. Election as a Fellow of ESA acknowledges achievements in insect science via research, teaching, extension, adminis...

09/04/2026

At BALTOPS 2026 in Latvia, some of the most important threat detection happened in the grass around camp.

Army entomologists and microbiologists from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research conducted infectious disease and vector surveillance to protect the force during the Baltic exercise. Using tick drags — a white sheet pulled across vegetation to mimic a passing animal — the team collected 10 ticks in one survey, most concentrated in a single area, which pinpointed the highest-risk zone in camp. A portable PCR platform let the team identify respiratory and GI pathogens from patient samples in about an hour.

The findings reinforced prevention basics that work anywhere ticks do:

-Use approved repellents such as DEET
-Wear uniforms properly
-Do buddy checks and daily tick checks
-Remove standing water and keep vegetation cut

Source:

WRAIR microbiologists and entomologists help identify hidden health threats at Camp Turtle, turning early disease and vector surveillance into practical steps that protect service members and sustain readiness during BALTOPS 2026.

09/03/2026

A key weapon against the New World screwworm is arriving early. USDA announced that its sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas will open in spring 2027, seven months ahead of schedule.

The New World screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, was detected in Texas in June—the first U.S. infestation in three decades. The response relies on sterile insect technique: mass-producing and releasing sterile male flies that mate with wild females, producing no offspring and collapsing the population. It is the same strategy that eradicated screwworm from the United States decades ago.

Initial production: 100 million sterile flies per week
Full capacity: 300 million per week by the end of 2028
Built in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Source:

A sterile fly facility is set to open in Texas next spring amid a New World Screwworm (NWS) outbreak that has affected two states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Monday. The U…

09/02/2026

For more than 40 years, NAMRU EURAFCENT has helped keep the Multinational Force & Observers mission healthy in the Sinai. This summer, their team visited South Camp to reaffirm that partnership and welcome incoming MFO Force Surgeon Col. Matthew Westhoff.

The work: testing mosquitoes and sandflies for pathogens, tracking insecticide resistance, and building risk maps for leishmaniasis, West Nile virus and dengue — so threats are identified before they reach deployed forces.

"Protecting the health of personnel begins long before a service member becomes ill," said Cmdr. Micah Kinney, NAMRU EURAFCENT executive officer.

Read more: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/572398

SOUTH CAMP, Sinai, Egypt - Representatives from U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) EURAFCENT met with leaders of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) during a July visit to the Sinai Peninsula.

08/27/2026

Beekeepers in Europe have been fighting the invasive yellow-legged hornet since it reached France in 2004. A new study in the Journal of Economic Entomology is the first to formally test one of the tools they built themselves.

The trap is a mesh tube that sits about 8 cm in front of the hive entrance, with mesh chimneys at each end that funnel hornets up into collection chambers. Across 12 apiaries in Catalonia, roughly 91 percent of everything caught was the target hornet. About 5 percent of captures were founding queens, rising to 17 percent by November when new queens are produced. No pesticides involved.

The trap isn't perfectly selective. European hornets, a native species, made up close to half of the non-target catch, and the authors say funnel design and timing both need more work.

08/26/2026

Lyme disease is moving south. A new CDC MMWR report describes tick surveillance in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina, where approximately 40 percent of adult blacklegged ticks tested positive for Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. That infection rate is on par with long-established endemic areas in the Northeast.

Researchers also detected Borrelia miyamotoi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, pathogens that cause hard tick relapsing fever and anaplasmosis, marking some of the southernmost findings of these agents in ticks.

If you spend time outdoors in the Southeast:

Use EPA-registered repellents such as DEET or picaridin
Treat clothing and gear with permethrin
Do a full tick check after time in grassy or wooded areas
See a healthcare provider promptly if you develop fever or rash after a tick bite

Source:

This report describes identification of blacklegged ticks during community-based tick surveillance at a residential property in North Carolina.