Mosquito trap maker can't meet demand amid Zika outbreak

MIAMI (AP) - The "enormous demand" created by the international Zika epidemic for traps used to monitor mosquitoes that carry the virus caught their German manufacturer off-guard, two company officials said Friday.

According to Biogents' only U.S. distributor, a backlog affects 1,950 traps ordered by governments and private businesses in Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and a few other states.

"Yes, unfortunately we have indeed a problem with the enormous demand of the traps due to the Zika outbreak," Biogents board member Martin Geier confirmed in an email Friday to the Associated Press. "We are a small/medium enterprise and had to adapt our production to the market needs."

The small company in Regensburg, Germany, typically fills a few thousand orders for these BG-Sentinel traps each year. Now it has had to ramp up production, Geier and board member Andreas Rose said in emails.

"Our stocks were sold out quicker than expected," Rose said.

An incoming shipment should fill orders for approximately 1,500 of the traps by the week of June 6, according to BioQuip Products Inc., the Los Angeles-based distributor.

The black, cylindrical traps, slightly larger than ice buckets, draw Aedes aegypti and Asian tiger mosquitoes into bags by emitting a scent that mimics the odor of humans.

"The BG Sentinel trap currently is the best trap for attracting the Aedes mosquitoes. There are other traps on the market, but if you're trying to do surveillance for Aedes, this one is specifically designed to attract them," said Susan Weinstein, Arkansas' public health veterinarian.

Nearly 600 travel-related Zika cases have been reported nationwide. Most people only suffer a mild and brief illness, but the virus can cause severe birth defects and neurological problems in some adults, including a rare syndrome that can be fatal or result in temporary paralysis.

Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the National Press Club on Thursday that his agency is trying to fast-track innovations to fight Zika, such as new traps that kill female mosquitoes.

"We've developed new traps that are effective and actually can knock down the spread of diseases spread, like Zika, by half, very simply, at a low cost," Frieden said.