A8 BAKER CITY HERALD • THuRsDAY, MAY 26, 2022
NATION
Scientists will set 1,000 traps
for murder hornets this year
BY NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. — Scientists
will set about 1,000 traps this year in
their quest to wipe out the Asian gi-
ant hornet in Washington, the state
Department of Agriculture said
Tuesday, May 24.
Scientists believe the hornets, first
detected in the Pacific Northwest
state in 2019, are confined in What-
com County, which is located on the
Canadian border north of Seattle.
“We are doing pretty good right
now,” said Sven-Erik Spichiger, who
is leading the fight to eradicate the
hornets for the state Department
of Agriculture. “We know about
where the nests are located in What-
com County.”
The insects are the world’s largest
hornets, with queens reaching up to
2 inches (5 centimeters) long. They
are considered invasive in North
America for their ability to kill other
bee and hornet species, which is
how they got the nickname “murder
hornets.”
Hornets caught in traps help sci-
entists find the location of nests. The
state eradicated three nests last year,
all near the town of Blaine, Wash-
ington, and there have been no con-
firmed reports of Asian giant hornet
nests so far this year, Spichiger said.
Most of the traps will be set in
northern Whatcom County, but a
few will be set in the city of Belling-
ham, he said.
The agency is also encouraging
residents to set their own traps, to
cover more ground.
The hornets will not be consid-
ered eradicated until Washington has
gone three full years with no detec-
tions, the agency said. The first con-
firmed detection of an Asian giant
hornet in Washington was made in
December 2019.
Washington State Department of Agriculture-TNS
A dead Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), or “murder hornet.”
Spichiger said the Entomological
Society of America is also working to
establish an official name for the in-
sect. Asian giant hornet, or the popu-
lar nickname murder hornet, are not
official names, he said.
The hornets can also deliver a
painful sting, which can result in
death if a person is stung repeat-
edly. Asian giant hornets rarely
attack humans unless provoked.
About 30 to 50 people die annually
from Asian giant hornet stings in
Japan, one of their native habitats.
Meanwhile, hornets, wasps and
bees typically found in the United
States kill an average of 62 people
a year, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has said.
The battle to prevent the Asian gi-
ant hornet, an apex predator, from
establishing a foothold in North
America is being fought mostly in
Whatcom County, Washington, and
the nearby Fraser Valley of Brit-
ish Columbia. Whatcom County is
about 55 miles (88 kilometers) south
of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Another effort is underway to de-
termine exactly where in Asia these
hornets came from, to try and learn
how they are getting across the Pa-
cific Ocean, scientists said. The the-
ory is they are crossing on cargo
ships, officials have said.
Hornet queens tend to emerge
from winter quarters in the spring
and establish nests to birth worker
hornets. The hornets start attacking
and destroying beneficial honey bees
later in the year, eating the bees for
protein as they raise more hornets.
A small group of Asian giant hor-
nets can kill an entire honey bee hive
in a matter of hours. The honey bees
pollinate many of the crops in Wash-
ington’s multibillion-dollar agricul-
ture industry.
US releases study about new
Idaho test nuclear reactor
BY KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE — U.S. officials have re-
leased an environmental study for
a proposed nuclear test reactor to
be built in eastern Idaho that back-
ers say is needed to revamp the
nation’s fading nuclear power in-
dustry by developing safer fuel and
power plants.
The U.S. Department of Energy
earlier this month released the envi-
ronmental impact statement for the
Versatile Test Reactor that would be
the first new test reactor built in the
U.S. in decades. Scientists have said
it could help lead to new nuclear re-
actors and reduce the use of fossil
fuels blamed for global warming.
The environmental impact state-
ment noted that the reactor would
produce spent nuclear fuel beyond
2035, going past a deadline the En-
ergy Department has with Idaho
concerning spent nuclear fuel at the
site. The document states that the
Energy Department would explore
possible approaches with Idaho re-
garding that issue.
The document also said that new
structures would cover about 25
acres and produce spent fuel that
would be treated and packaged at
the site and placed on a spent fuel
pad pending shipment off the site.
Energy Department officials have
praised the project.
“VTR will provide U.S. research-
ers from industry, academia, and
our national laboratories with a
critical tool for developing trans-
formational technologies that will
expand nuclear energy’s contribu-
tion to abundant, carbon-free en-
ergy,” Kathryn Huff, assistant sec-
retary for the Energy Department’s
Office of Nuclear Energy, said in a
statement.
She added: “VTR’s contribution
to the fight against climate change
begins with our commitment to de-
signing, constructing, and operat-
ing the VTR in a way that protects
the environment and nearby com-
munities.”
Federal officials have said the pro-
posed test reactor would help create
new and safer fuels, materials and
reactors being developed by civilian
companies in the U.S. About 20% of
the nation’s energy comes from about
100 nuclear power plants.
The reactor would give the nation
a dedicated “fast-neutron-spectrum”
testing capability. Such reactors are
called fast reactors. The advantage
of such a test reactor, scientists say,
is that fast neutrons have a higher
energy level and speed the testing
of materials, fuels and instruments
needed in a new wave of planned
commercial nuclear reactors.
The disadvantage of such reactors,
other scientists have said, is that they
are cooled with harder to control liq-
uid sodium and fueled by plutonium,
increasing potential nuclear terror-
ism risks because plutonium can be
used to make nuclear weapons. Crit-
ics also say they produce waste even
more hazardous and difficult to dis-
pose of than conventional reactors.
U.S. officials have said Russia,
China and India already have such
test reactors.
Plans call for building the re-
actor at the Energy Department’s
890-square-mile site that includes
the Idaho National Laboratory by
the end of 2026. Construction of the
proposed reactor depends on fund-
ing from Congress.
Scientists at the Idaho National
Laboratory earlier this year com-
pleted a rare overhaul of the Energy
Department’s Advanced Test Reac-
tor, one of the world’s most powerful
nuclear test reactors.
And in 2018, the Energy Depart-
ment restarted the Transient Test
Reactor at the Idaho National Lab-
oratory to test new nuclear fuels.
That facility had been on standby
since 1994.
What is monkeypox and where is it spreading?
BY MARIA CHENG
Associated Press
LONDON — Health au-
thorities in Europe, North
America, Israel and Australia
have identified more than 100
cases of monkeypox in recent
days.
Officials around the world
are keeping watch for more
cases because, for the first time,
the rare disease appears to be
spreading among people who
didn’t travel to Africa, where
monkeypox is endemic. They
stress, however, that the risk to
the general population is low.
What is monkeypox?
Monkeypox is a virus that
originates in wild animals like
rodents and primates, and oc-
casionally jumps to people. It
belongs to the same virus fam-
ily as smallpox.
Most human cases have been
in central and west Africa and
outbreaks have been relatively
limited.
The illness was first identi-
fied by scientists in 1958 when
there were two outbreaks of a
“pox-like” disease in research
monkeys — thus the name
monkeypox. The first known
human infection was in 1970,
in a young boy in a remote part
of Congo.
Presumptive case
reported in Seattle
area
SEATTLE (AP) — A “presump-
tive” case of monkeypox is being
investigated in the Seattle area,
local health officials said Mon-
day, May 23.
Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer
at Public Health – Seattle & King
County, said at a news confer-
ence Monday afternoon the
case was in an adult male who
had travelled internationally in
the last month to a country that
had reported monkeypox cases.
Duchin said initial testing was
completed Monday at a state
laboratory. A test to confirm the
case will be done by federal of-
ficials.
The person was isolating and
was not considered a risk to oth-
ers, Duchin said.
“This individual was not hos-
pitalized and is recovering at
home,” he said, adding the per-
“This may just be unlucky
that (monkeypox) happened
to get into this one particu-
lar community first,” said Dr.
Jake Dunning, an infectious
diseases researcher at the Uni-
versity of Oxford, who is also
involved in treating cases in
London. “It’s just that they are
What caused this latest
a community and by having
outbreak?
Health officials are still in- sex with each other, that is
how it’s spreading,” he said.
vestigating, but a top adviser
Other experts warn the dis-
to the World Health Organi-
zation said this week that the ease could spread more widely
if measures aren’t taken to
leading theory is that mon-
keypox was likely spread after stop the outbreak.
“Infectious diseases don’t
sexual activity at two recent
care about borders or social
raves in Europe.
networks. Some groups may
Dr. David Heymann, who
chairs WHO’s expert advisory have a greater chance of ex-
group on infectious hazards,
posure right now, but by no
said monkeypox can spread
means is the current risk of
when there is close contact
exposure to monkeypox” ex-
with someone already in-
clusive to men who have sex
fected with the disease, and
with men, said the CDC’s Dr.
that “it looks like sexual con- John Brooks.
tact has now amplified that
transmission.”
What are the symptoms and
Authorities in countries in- how is it treated?
cluding Britain, Spain, Ger-
Most monkeypox patients
many and Portugal say most
experience only fever, body
of the known cases in Europe aches, chills and fatigue. Peo-
have been among men who
ple with more serious illness
have sex with men, but experts may develop a rash and le-
emphasize that anyone can be sions on the face and hands
infected through close contact that can spread to other parts
with a sick person, their cloth- of the body.
ing or bedsheets.
Most people recover within
Scientists say it will be diffi- about two to four weeks with-
cult to determine whether the out needing to be hospital-
spread is being driven by sex ized. Monkeypox can be fatal
or merely close contact.
for up to 6% of cases and is
thought to be more severe in
Why are most of the current
children.
Smallpox vaccines are effec-
infections outside africa in
men who have sex with men? tive against monkeypox and
It’s unclear, but the disease anti-viral drugs are also being
is no more likely to infect gay developed.
and bisexual men than any-
The European Centre for
one else.
Disease Prevention and Con-
son was cooperating with local
health authorities.
Health officials do not believe
there is a high risk to the public.
Monkeypox is rarely identi-
fied outside of Africa. Duchin
said four cases have been con-
firmed in the United States.
To date, the World Health Or-
ganization has recorded more
than 90 cases of monkeypox in a
dozen countries, including Can-
ada, Spain, Israel, France, Swit-
zerland, the U.S. and Australia.
Although the disease be-
longs to the same virus family
as smallpox, its symptoms are
milder. People usually recover
within two to four weeks with-
out needing to be hospitalized,
but the disease occasionally is
deadly.
Health officials say most of
the known cases in Europe have
been among men who have sex
with men, but anyone can be
infected through close contact
with a sick person, their clothing
or bedsheets.
trol recommended all sus-
pected cases be isolated and
that high-risk contacts be
offered a smallpox vaccine.
The U.K. is offering high-risk
contacts the smallpox vaccine
and recommending anyone
who might be infected to iso-
late until they recover.
The U.S. has 1,000 doses
of a vaccine approved for the
prevention of monkeypox
and smallpox, plus more than
100 million doses of an old-
er-generation smallpox vac-
cine in a government stock-
pile, officials said.
How worrying is this
outbreak?
Any outbreak of an emerg-
ing virus is concerning, but
most of the cases have been
mild and there have been no
deaths so far.
Monkeypox also requires
very close contact to spread,
so it is not likely to prompt
big waves of disease like
COVID-19, which can be
transmitted in the air by peo-
ple with no symptoms.
Still, Britain’s Health Se-
curity Agency has said it ex-
pects to see new infections
“on a daily basis” and WHO’s
Europe director warned that
the summer season of festi-
vals and parties could spread
the disease. Many of the cases
being identified have no links
to previous infections, sug-
gesting the virus is already
spreading widely.
On Tuesday, Germany’s
Health Minister Karl Lauter-
bach said the outbreak “is not
the beginning of a new pan-
demic” but needed to be con-
tained quickly.
How many monkeypox cases
are there typically?
The World Health Orga-
nization estimates there are
thousands of monkeypox in-
fections in about a dozen Af-
rican countries every year.
Most are in Congo, which re-
ports about 6,000 cases annu-
ally, and Nigeria, with about
3,000 cases a year.
In the past, isolated cases
of monkeypox have been
spotted outside Africa, in-
cluding in the U.S. and Brit-
ain. The cases were mostly
linked to travel in Africa or
contact with animals from ar-
eas where the disease is more
common.
In 2003, 47 people in six
U.S. states had confirmed or
probable cases. They caught
the virus from pet prairie
dogs that been housed near
imported small mammals
from Ghana.
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