The mosquito state: How technology, capital, and state practice mediate the ecologies of public health

In 2003, the mosquito acquired new significance in the southwestern United States. The arrival of west nile virus (wnV) and its first associated human deaths ushered in a rereading of the mosquito from an itchy nuisance to a potentially life-threatening hazard. Mundane objects now required attention like never before. Swimming pools, irrigation canals, ditches, clogged gutters, and abandoned tires all became potential sources of a mobile public health hazard: the mosquito vector. In the state of Arizona, wnV went from a largely unanticipated epidemic situation to an endemic one in short order, where expectation of ongoing disease control quickly became a part of government obligations (Robbins et al. 2008).