On Monday, Oct. 27, Dr. Theodore Andreadis will be on the Quinnipiac Campus to educate students on the severity of mosquito-borne viruses that are known to cause human disease. Andreadis is the Chief Medical Entomologist for Connecticut’s Agricultural Experimental Station in New Haven.

Since 1997, the State of Connecticut has had a comprehensive Mosquito Management Program to monitor mosquito populations and mosquito-borne viruses known to cause human disease. One of the best-known diseases is the West Nile Virus.

According to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), which is responsible for trapping and testing mosquitoes, they have trapped and tested over 150,000 mosquitoes and detected these types of diseases on nine occasions from six different locations.

Andreadis will speak about the intensity of such research, in addition to educating students on what all the research means. The lecture will be at noon in Alumni Hall.

The lecture is entitled, “The west Nile Virus: An Exotic Emerging Pathogen in North America,” and is sponsored by Quinnipiac’s Sigma Xi chapter.

Dr. Andreadis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1972 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He majored in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology.

He then went on to attain his masters in Entomology from Amherst. In 1978, Dr. Andreadis got his Ph.D in Entomology from the University of Florida.

Since gaining his Ph.D Andreadis has worked as an Assistant Entomologist, Associate Entomologist, an Entomologist and his present position as the Chief Medical Entomologist and Department Head. Dr. Andreadis has held this position since 1992.

Dr. Andreadis is researching mosquito ecology, epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, particularly the West Nile virus. He is also focusing on the microbial control of mosquitoes.