Sarasota County has opened a new mosquito management facility in Nokomis that officials say includes the state’s first active malaria surveillance laboratory.
Wade Brennan, Sarasota County’s mosquito manager, said the new building is the first in Florida — and possibly the country — to conduct active malaria surveillance, and marks the first time the county’s entire mosquito management staff can gather in a single space.
Brennan has hands-on experience with the disease. In 2023, he identified seven malaria cases in the county, all occurring within a four-mile radius, according to the CDC.
The old facility created significant delays during that outbreak. Specimens had to be shipped to the CDC in Atlanta, and results could take up to 3 days. The new lab can return results within hours.
Chuck Henry, director of the Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County, said the facility allows staff to monitor which mosquito species can transmit disease and track the levels of virus in the mosquito population.
The building includes an aquaculture facility and several labs for testing mosquitoes’ responses to chemicals and for studying population-control strategies in larvae.
Brennan emphasized that the county’s primary focus is on eliminating mosquitoes before they reach adulthood. By targeting larvae in standing water, staff aim to stop mosquitoes before they can bite and potentially transmit disease to humans.
The county’s former mosquito management building on Pinkney Avenue in Sarasota will not go unused — the utilities department is set to move into that space.
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