Maitraya Ghataka
Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Javier Urcuyo
Mathematics and Biology, Arizona State University, Glendale, CA, USA
Patrick Wise
University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
Rebecca Trout Fryxell
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
Suzanne Lenhart
Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
La Crosse Virus (LACV) is an arbovirus found in Eastern Appalachia and can cause pediatric encephalitis in prepubescent children. To assess the risk and transmission of this disease, it is particularly important to understand the average population of Aedes mosquitoes, which are the vectors of this virus. We use a deterministic compartmental model to study the effects of environmental factors on the population dynamics of Aedes mosquitoes in the Knox County area. We use locally-collected mosquito population data to adjust our model outputs and find that model transitions are heavily dependent on the fluctuations of both temperature and accumulated precipitation. These findings should be considered for mosquito management in Southern Appalachia, as well as in other regions with slight modifications to our model.
