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HISTORY

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History

The need for organized mosquito abatement operations in the City of New

Orleans was driven by a habitat uniquely suited to produce overwhelming

mosquito populations, disease epidemics, and public outcry. Yellow fever

killed more than 41,000 New Orleanians from 1817 – 1905 with peak

outbreaks in 1853, 1858, 1867, and 1878. During this time, residents of

New Orleans evacuated seasonally not for hurricanes but for fear of

contracting this deadly disease. In 1905, following a tremendous effort

by scientists to link disease transmission to mosquito vectors, the first area

wide mosquito control program in the City of New Orleans was

implemented. Efforts focused on eliminating breeding sites, screening and treating cisterns, and public education. These efforts proved successful with no human cases of Yellow fever reported in the City following 1905. In the years to come, public attention turned from Yellow fever to Malaria. Formal eradication efforts led by the United States Public Health Services in cooperation with several southern states continued until 1954. Public outcry in the mid 1940s and 50s over large populations of the salt marsh mosquito (Aedes sollicitans) prompted then mayor deLesseps S. Morrison to form the Metropolitan Mosquito Control Commission (MMCC). This organization would later (1957) become the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association under the direction of Dr. Edward S. Hathaway and Anderson B. Ritter. Their work in the early 1960’s demonstrated the success of ditching and impoundment to eliminate standing water (source reduction) and illustrated the possibility of effective local mosquito control efforts.

In May 1964, George T. Carmichael of the Chatham County (Georgia) Mosquito Control Commission was hired as the first director of the City of New Orleans Mosquito Control Board. During the initial years, widespread efforts were made to eliminate tires, swales, and other breeding sites.