The Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit FIVE (NEPMU-5) conducted a dengue and Zika workshop at Naval Base San Diego, April 20.

Twenty five participants that included entomologists, environmental health officers, preventive medicine technicians, public works employees, housing representatives and vector control personnel, attended the conference titled "Assessing and Preparing for the Threat of Dengue and Zika in the Southwestern U.S."

Eric McDonald, San Diego County's medical director provided the keynote presentation on dengue and Zika discussing the diseases' origin and nature, as well as how they spread, who gets sick and why.

"For me speaking at an event such as this means coming back to my roots," said McDonald who served 24 years in the Navy, nine of which were spent with the Marines. "It is critical that the county and the Navy have a strong relationship because mosquitoes do not follow property boundaries and it is to everyone's benefit that we share a unified knowledge base."

Chris Conlan, San Diego County's supervising vector ecologist was also at the event and gave a talk on the current state of the vectors that transmit dengue and Zika in San Diego, and also offered advice on communicating risk to stakeholders.

"NEPMU-5 has a multidisciplinary staff that is uniquely capable of responding to multifaceted public health issues in our region," said Cmdr. Shelton Lyons, NEPMU-5 Officer in Charge. "We have preventive medicine officers, entomologists, microbiologists and environmental health officers all under one roof capable of responding as a center of excellence."

Workshop speakers discussed the biology, surveillance and control of dengue and Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes, along with general disease information, integrated pest management best practices and risk communication.

"Dengue and Zika represent a complex public health concern that requires collaboration from all of our Navy and civilian collaborators," said Lyons. "Overall the goal of this workshop was to empower our personnel to make informed, data driven decisions in regards to integrated pest management and force health protection."

For more information on Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit FIVE, visit http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcphc/nepmu-5/Pages/default.aspx or follow NEPMU-5 on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nepmu5.



For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.
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