Mosquitos

The mosquito species driving the ongoing Zika virus outbreak appears to range over a far wider swath of the continental United States than previously estimated, stretching as far north as Ohio in the Midwest and New Jersey along the East Coast.

The revised estimates, based on a newly released map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggest a far larger US population than previously believed could be exposed to the virus when mosquito season ramps up.

Experts call Aedes aegypti, or the yellow fever mosquito, an optimal insect to transmit Zika because they get infected themselves relatively easily, like to live among people, and prefer to feed on people instead of other animals.

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Some studies have also shown that another species of Aedes mosquito — the albopictus, or Asian tiger mosquito — can likely spread the virus as well. But albopictus mosquitoes have a broader diet and don’t spend as much time around people as aegypti mosquitoes.