Many are calling it the Second Battle of New Orleans, the first having taken place in 1815, when General Andrew Jackson's troops defended the city from the British. Today, the enemy isn't an army of redcoats, but an exotic insect, Coptotermes formosanus--a.k.a. the Formosan subterranean termite.


The city's so-called Second Battle is actually the first leg of a new national campaign to rein in the tiny, ravenous pest. Originally from East Asia, the Formosan termite infests over a dozen southern states, costing an estimated $1 billion a year in property damages, repairs, and control measures.

In 1998, the U.S. Congress took action--appropriating $5 million to fund the termite-fighting project, dubbed Operation Full Stop. It also appointed USDA's Agricultural Research Service to lead the campaign, which is taking a decidedly offensive approach to reducing large-area infestations of the pest.

.