4-H Teen Takes Bite Out of Mosquito Threat (2005)

More than annoying, mosquitoes often carry disease like the potentially deadly West Nile virus.

Seventeen-year-old 4-H member Ashley Buford brought together hundreds of 4-H youth and adults to control Crisp County, Georgia's mosquito population to minimize the spread of West Nile.

Ashley loves horses. She wanted to help prevent the dangerous infection when she learned that many horses in her area had become ill. Then, she found out that West Nile had killed seven people in her home state. "I thought, this is about more than horses, this is affecting our entire community!" Ashley said.

In fact, more than 15,000 human cases of the virus, which causes inflammation of the brain, have been reported in 48 states since 1999.

Ashley conducted research and found that fathead minnows are natural predators of mosquito larvae. So, she put the minnows in her horses' water troughs to see if the tiny fish devoured the larvae. It worked.

The teen organized a 4-H Afterschool project in which youth and adults worked together to release minnows into standing water throughout the county. 4-H Afterschool is sponsored nationally by the JCPenney Afterschool Fund. (More)