Watch John Oliver on special tax districts.

John Oliver on special tax districts. I would be honored to have your vote for a seat on our Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, seat 2. It is a nonpartisan election. You can vote for me on or before November 3, 2026. It is an independent special taxing district. Watch John Oliver on independent special tax districts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saU5racsGE

Florida counties declare emergency over ‘wildly unusual’ dengue outbreak (Alex DeLuca, WaPo, September 25, 2026)

I will be honored to have your vote for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County, seat 2.  From The Washington Post: 

Florida counties declare emergency over ‘wildly unusual’ dengue outbreak

Mosquito-borne disease has infected hundreds statewide and killed one woman in Tampa.

September 25, 2026 at 2:39 p.m. EDTToday at 2:39 p.m. EDT

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A female Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary transmitter of dengue. (James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/AP)

By Alex DeLuca

Three Florida counties have declared states of emergency as a growing outbreak of dengue has infected hundreds across the state this year.

Hillsborough and Pinellas counties declared states of emergency Thursday, one day after neighboring Pasco County did the same, as officials in the state’s west-central region ramps up efforts to control mosquito populations and curb the spread of the mosquito-borne disease.

Florida has reported 392 dengue cases among residents this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including both locally acquired infections and cases linked to travel. Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa and has emerged as the center of the state’s outbreak, has reported 177 cases among residents — a rise a county spokesperson described as “wildly unusual.”

The outbreak has also caused at least one death. Florida health officials confirmed that Gay Small, an 80-year-old Tampa woman, was the first known person to die of dengue in the state this year. She died on Sept. 4 after contracting dengue from a mosquito bite near her home, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Historically, most dengue cases in Florida have been contracted during travel abroad, but the state has seen an unusual surge in locally acquired infections since July.

Hillsborough officials said their declaration allows emergency managers to quickly take actions to protect public health and seek federal reimbursement for certain expenses. Hillsborough has deployed low-flying helicopters to spray affected areas.

Pinellas County’s declaration similarly allows officials to approve mosquito-control spending more quickly and seek reimbursement if state funding becomes available. The county said mosquito-control crews have “elevated” their response, with several treatments planned.

“Our crews are currently going door-to-door near our treatment areas offering to assist residents in finding potential mosquito breeding areas and treat them,” Pinellas officials said.

Dengue is a viral infection spread primarily through the bites of infected mosquitoes. Although the disease is common in tropical and subtropical climates, locally acquired cases also occur in parts of the United States, including Florida.

More than 2,000 dengue cases have been reported in the U.S. this year, most of them in Puerto Rico, according to the CDC. More than 2.2 million infections and nearly 1,200 deaths have been reported worldwide this year, according to the World Health Organization.

Most dengue infections cause no symptoms or mild illness, but some people develop fever, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, nausea, or rashes, according to the CDC. In rare cases, the disease can become severe and lead to internal bleeding or death.

To prevent dengue, health officials recommend using insect repellent, wearing clothing that covers the arms and legs, and removing standing water around homes, where mosquitoes can breed.

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Celebrate Independence! On or before November 3, 2026, Elect Ed Slavin to Anastasia Mosquito Control Board of St. Johns County

Election is on November 3. 

To St. Johns County voters: On November 3, 2026, may I please have the honor of your votes for Commissioner of the Anastasia Mosquito District of St. Johns County?

Endorsed by both Historic City News and St. Johns County Democratic Party in 2024.

Here's my 2024 Q&A with the League of Women Voters:

What motivated you to run for office?

It's our money. I've been a watchdog on mosquito control since 2006. Mosquitoes could bring us the next global pandemic. We will be prepared with data, research, education, and environmentally-friendly, non-toxic natural pesticides. My dad was an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper, infected with malaria in Sicily. Dad recovered in Army hospitals, but we saw dad suffer lifetime effects. LWV's Ms. Robin Nadeau asked me to help her investigate Anastasia Mosquito Control of St. Johns County, buying a $1.8 million no-bid, luxury Bell Jet Long Ranger helicopter incapable of killing a single skeeter, not unlike buying a Porsche to propel a snowplow. We persuaded AMCD to cancel illegal, no-bid helicopter contract, saving $1.8 million in 2007.  

What do you see as the most pressing issues for this office and how do you propose to address them?
Advancing research and education while protecting scientific integrity and employee whistleblower rights; safeguarding the independence of AMCD, an independent scientific and technical organization; protecting public health, the environment and public funds. Let's assure that "whistleblower" ethical employees are heard and heeded whenever they raise concerns. Let's resist any further effort by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners to take over independent AMCD, as attempted by former SJC County Administrator Michael Wanchick and County Commission Chairmen. I oppose allowing arbitration clauses in AMCD contracts, Yes, I've been a watchdog of mosquito control environmental protection and spending since December 2006.

What training, experience, and characteristics qualify you for this position?
Helped persuade our independent mosquito district to cancel unwise, no-bid luxury $1.8 million helicopter contract. Won declassification of our frail planet's largest-ever mercury pollution event (Oak Ridge, Tenn. Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant),triggering nationwide cleanups; recommended for Pulitzer Prize by DA. Clerked for USDOL Chief Administrative Law Judge Nahum Litt and Judge Charles Rippey. Staffer for Senators Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart & Jim Sasser. B.S.F.S., Georgetown U.; J.D., Memphis State U. Your watchdog, termed an "environmental hero" by FOLIO WEEKLY (after reporting City's illegal dumping of landfill in lake and illegal sewage effluent pollution of our saltwater marsh). Shall we ask questions, demand answers & expect democracy?

How important are environmental concerns when making decisions for the Anastasia Mosquito Control District?
Very important

Explain your answer.
Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" informs good science and use of non-toxic natural pesticides as much as possible. Amid global climate change, the next pandemic could be a mosquito-borne disease. Let's protect AMCD independence, education and applied research to protect public health and our environment. I support AMCD's leadership on natural pesticides. I once reported FEMA and AMCD to federal environmental law officials when bald eagles were exposed to organophosphate pesticides. Support AMCD working with other mosquito control districts and officials to share scientific knowledge to protect all of us "non-target species": mosquito control workers, residents, tourists, pets, horses, livestock, bees and other pollinators, flora and fauna. 

St. Johns County is growing rapidly. How does this impact the management of mosquito control?
Overdevelopment increases the expense of mosquito control and increases exposure of families to mosquitoes from wetlands. St. Johns County Commissioners, developers and their big money clout decide way too many unwise development decisions. This requires our nimble small mosquito control special taxing district to innovate, with sensitive adaptation of mosquito control techniques to protect entire new neighborhoods, which seem to spring up overnight, adjoining wetlands. Public education, applied research, sound science-based policies and non-toxic mosquito control methods, are all essential to protecting public health from mosquito-borne diseases. AMCD exists to prevent any outbreaks of deadly mosquito-borne diseases. We must do it right!

Mosquito-Borne Illness Rarely Seen in U.S. Is Suspected on Long Island. (Joseph Goldstein, NY Times, September 25, 2025)

On or before November 3, 2026, I would be honored to have your votes for Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County. The next global pandemic could be spread by one or more mosquito-born diseases. My late Father was bitten by a swamp mosquito contracted malaria in Sicily in 1943, where he fought Nazis with the 82nd ABN DIVN:  (My Dad  helped liberate the first French town from the Nazis on D-Day before the sun even rose that day.)  Malaria changed my Father's life, my Mother;s life and my life.  I'm  blessed and lucky to be alive.  My Mother and Father prayed for twelve (12) years to Saint Jude due to their difficulties in conceiving a child, the likely result of malaria on my Father. Due to my Father's malaria, my .Mother said the chances of my being born were less than one in 100,000.  I've been an outspoken advocate for mosquito control and open government here since 2006. Let me be your watchdog. 

From The New York Times:

Mosquito-Borne Illness Rarely Seen in U.S. Is Suspected on Long Island

Chikungunya, which is endemic in parts of South America, Africa and Asia, may be the cause of a woman’s illness.

Listen to this article · 5:08 min Learn more

Mosquitoes spread the disease called chikungunya, which can cause debilitating joint pain.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

By Joseph Goldstein

Sept. 25, 2025

Health officials said they were investigating whether the debilitating mosquito-borne virus chikungunya was circulating in New York after a woman tested positive on Long Island in a preliminary screening.

Although the virus has exacted a steep toll across parts of South America, Africa and Asia during the past 20 years, the United States has seen scant local transmission. The last time the disease was known to have been transmitted locally in the United States was about a decade ago, when fewer than 15 cases were detected in Florida and Texas.

But a 60-year-old woman in the Town of Hempstead, a hamlet in central Nassau County that is about 20 miles east of Manhattan, said she had tested positive for the virus in a preliminary screening test this month. Her blood samples have been sent to the state Health Department’s public health laboratory in Albany to confirm a diagnosis, a Nassau County official said.

“The New York State Department of Health is investigating a possible locally acquired case of chikungunya virus,” a department spokeswoman, Danielle De Souza, said in a statement. “No locally acquired cases have ever been reported in New York State, and the risk to the public remains very low.”

In an interview, the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive health matter, said she had not traveled anywhere recently and had been shocked when she saw the test results. She said she wanted to share her experience out of concern that the virus was circulating undetected and that others might be falling ill, too. She worried that doctors were not even considering chikungunya as a possible diagnosis.

She said that she fell ill a month ago, on Aug. 21, and was stricken with severe joint pain, the classic symptom of chikungunya. Pain racked her feet, ankles, knees, wrists, hands and shoulders, especially her right shoulder. It felt like it was on fire, almost as though it were being pulled apart, she said.

Chikungunya is known for causing debilitating joint pain, which can clear up quickly or linger for months or even years, contributing to a surge in new disabilities in countries that see outbreaks.

If the woman is confirmed to have chikungunya, it would signify the arrival of a new public health threat from arthropods in the New York region. Ticks already present a serious health peril on Long Island, where their bites sicken thousands of people each year. Suffolk County, which includes the eastern two-thirds of the island, has more Lyme disease cases some years than any other county in the United States.

Long Island has also been a hot spot for alpha-gal syndrome, a meat allergy linked to tick bites, including those from the lone star tick. That type of tick arrived on Long Island about 50 years agoand is the dominant tick in parts of Suffolk County. More than 3,700 cases of alpha-gal syndrome were detected in the county between 2017 and 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chikungunya has surged globally as climate change expands the range of the mosquitoes that carry it. China has faced a major outbreak this year, and the disease has been circulating in France and Italy, too. It is now endemic across much of the Caribbean and South and Central America.

The disease was first identified in Tanzania in the early 1950s. Its name comes from the Kimakonde language spoken there and means “that which bends up.” The virus would periodically cause waves of illness. India experienced a massive outbreak between 2005 and 2007.

The disease established itself in the Western Hemisphere starting in late 2013, when it was detected on St. Martin. It tore though the Caribbean, sickening hundreds of thousands of people in that first year alone. New Yorkers returning from trips sometimes brought the virus back home with them, but there were few signs of any local transmission.

New York was once viewed as relatively insulated from chikungunya, partly because the mosquito that seemed to be the main vector, the Aedes aegypti, or yellow fever mosquito, is not naturally found there. Increasingly, another mosquito, Aedes albopictus, commonly known as the Asian tiger mosquito, is driving chikungunya outbreaks. That mosquito is a relative newcomer to the United States, but its range now extends to parts of New York.

The Nassau County woman said that her recent illness caused joint pain in her shoulder so severe that she struggled to sleep or do much of anything at all. Though the fiery pain has abated somewhat, she still has difficulty walking because of pain in the ball of her foot.

Dr. Bruce Farber, an infectious disease expert at Northwell Health, the state’s largest hospital system, said that if chikungunya had arrived in New York, an infected mosquito might have hitched a ride on a plane.

“Mosquitoes are sometimes carried back in luggage or in airplanes,” he said.

“That’s the most likely way,” he said, noting that malaria sometimes spreads in a limited fashion through the same means, a phenomenon called “airport malaria.”

Joseph Goldstein covers health care in New York for The Times, following years of criminal justice and police reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 26, 2025, Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: Mosquito-Borne Illness Rarely Seen in the U.S. Is Suspected on Long Island. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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