A Comparison of Hay and Fish Emulsion-Infused Water as Oviposition Attractants for the CDC Gravid Trap

Multiple oviposition attractants are used for Culex (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquito surveillance in the CDC Gravid Trap, including hay and fish emulsion-infused water. Despite the use of both in the United States, no research has compared their attractiveness. We conducted trapping throughout Louisiana to assess the attractiveness of hay and fish emulsion-infused water in various habitat types and climates. Our results indicate that fish emulsion-infused water attracts more mosquitoes overall, more Culex quinquefasciatus (Say, 1823), and a wider diversity of mosquitoes than hay-infused water. This trend was maintained, regardless of habitat type or climate.

A New Record of Uranotaenia sapphirina and Aedes japonicus in Lee and Ogle Counties, Illinois

ABSTRACT Mosquito surveillance was conducted in Nachusa Grasslands Preserve located in north central Illinois in May through October during 2018 and 2019. In the Lee and Ogle counties, Illinois, boundaries of the preserve, 3 Uranotaenia sapphirina and 3 Aedes japonicus were collected and documented over the 2 field seasons in wetland and stream habitats. While Ur. sapphirina has been reported in nearby states, this is the first record in Lee County and on the preserve. Aedes japonicus has previously been recorded in Lee County; however, this is the first observance of this species within Ogle County and on the preserve.

Evaluation of the New Modular Biogents BG-Pro Mosquito Trap in Comparison to CDC, EVS, BG-Sentinel, and BG-Mosquitaire Traps

ABSTRACT Mosquito surveillance is an essential component of mosquito control and mosquito traps are a universally employed tool to monitor adult populations. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the new modular Biogents BG-Pro mosquito trap (BGP) and compare its performance to 4 widely used traps for adult mosquitoes: the BG-Sentinel (BGS), the BG Mosquitaire (BGM), the CDC miniature light trap (CDC), and the encephalitis vector survey trap (EVS). One semi-field and 9 field Latin square trials were performed in 7 countries. Results showed that the collection performance of the BGP was equivalent to or exceeded that of the BGS, BGM, CDC, and EVS traps in head-to-head comparisons. The BGP uses 35% less power than the CDC and 75% less than the BGS and BGM. This lower power consumption allows it to run at 5 V for 2 days using a small lightweight 10,000-mAh rechargeable power bank. The BG-Pro is an excellent alternative for the surveillance of mosquito species that are usually monitored with BG-Sentinel, CDC, or EVS traps.

MEWAR: Development of a Cross-Platform Mobile Application and Web Dashboard System for Real-Time Mosquito Surveillance in Northeast Brazil

Mosquito surveillance is a crucial process for understanding the population dynamics of mosquitoes, as well as implementing interventional programs for controlling and preventing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Environmental surveillance agents who performing routine entomological surveys at properties in areas where mosquito-borne diseases are endemic play a critical role in vector surveillance by searching and destroying mosquito hotspots as well as collate information on locations with increased infestation. Currently, the process of recording information on paper-based forms is time-consuming and painstaking due to manual effort. The introduction of mobile surveillance applications will therefore improve the process of data collection, timely reporting, and field worker performance. Digital-based surveillance is critical in reporting real-time data; indeed, the real-time capture of data with phones could be used for predictive analytical models to predict mosquito population dynamics, enabling early warning detection of hotspots and thus alerting fieldworker agents into immediate action. This paper describes the development of a cross-platform digital system for improving mosquito surveillance in Brazil. It comprises of two components: a dashboard for managers and a mobile application for health agents. The former enables managers to assign properties to health workers who then survey them for mosquitoes and to monitor the progress of inspection visits in real-time. The latter, which is primarily designed as a data collection tool, enables the environmental surveillance agents to act on their assigned tasks of recording the details of the properties at inspections by filling out digital forms built into the mobile application, as well as details relating to mosquito infestation. The system presented in this paper was co-developed with significant input with environmental agents in two Brazilian cities where it is currently being piloted.

Increasing Public Health Mosquito Surveillance in Hidalgo County, Texas to Monitor Vector and Arboviral Presence

From 2016 to 2018, Hidalgo County observed the emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) infections along with sporadic cases of Dengue virus (DENV) and West Nile virus (WNV). Due to the emergence of ZIKV and the historical presence of other mosquito-borne illnesses, Hidalgo County obtained funding to enhance mosquito surveillance and educate residents on arboviruses and travel risks. During this time period, Hidalgo County mosquito surveillance efforts increased by 1.275%. This increase resulted in >8000 mosquitoes collected, and 28 mosquito species identified. Aedes aegypti, Ae albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus made up approximately two-thirds of the mosquitoes collected in 2018 (4122/6171). Spatiotemporal shifts in vector species composition were observed as the collection period progressed. Significantly, temperature variations (p < 0.05) accounted for associated variations in vector abundance, whereas all other climate variables were not significant.

Detection of DENV-2 and Insect-Specific Flaviviruses in Mosquitoes Collected From Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

BackgroundMosquito-borne diseases are rapidly spreading due to increasing international travel and trade. Routine mosquito surveillance and screening for mosquito-borne pathogens can be early indicators for local disease transmission and outbreaks. However, arbovirus detection in mosquito vectors has rarely been reported in Saudi Arabia.MethodsA total of 769,541 Aedes and Culex mosquitoes were collected by Black Hole traps during routine mosquito surveillance in the first half of 2016. Culex. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti were the most prevalent species observed. Twenty-five and 24 randomly selected pools of Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus, respectively, were screened for arboviruses by RT-PCR.ResultsDengue 2 (DENV-2) and four strains of insect-specific flaviviruses, including one of cell-fusing agent virus (CFAV) and three of Phlebotomus-associated flavivirus (PAFV) were detected in pools of Ae. aegypti. We also detected 10 strains of Culex flavivirus (CxFV) in pools of Cx. quinquefasciatus. Phylogenetic analysis using whole genome sequences placed the DENV strain into the cosmopolitan 1 sub-DENV-2 genotype, and the CxFVs into the African/Caribbean/Latin American genotype. These analyses also showed that the DENV-2 strain detected in the present study was closely related to strains detected in China in 2014 and in Japan in 2018, which suggests frequent movement of DENV-2 strains among these countries. Furthermore, the phylogenetic analysis suggested at least five introductions of DENV-2 into Saudi Arabia from 2014 through 2018, most probably from India.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this study reports the first detection of four arboviruses DENV, CFAV, PAFV, and CxFV in mosquitoes in Saudi Arabia, which shows that they are co-circulating in Jeddah. Our findings show a need for widespread mosquito-based arbovirus surveillance programs in Saudi Arabia, which will improve our understanding of the transmission dynamics of the mosquito-borne arboviruses within the country and help early predict and mitigate the risk of human infections and outbreaks.

Understanding Mosquito Surveillance Data for Analytic Efforts: A Case Study

Mosquito surveillance data can be used for predicting mosquito distribution and dynamics as they relate to human disease. Often these data are collected by independent agencies and aggregated to state and national level portals to characterize broad spatial and temporal dynamics. These larger repositories may also share the data for use in mosquito and/or disease prediction and forecasting models. Assumed, but not always confirmed, is consistency of data across agencies. Subtle differences in reporting may be important for development and the eventual interpretation of predictive models. Using mosquito vector surveillance data from Arizona as a case study, we found differences among agencies in how trapping practices were reported. Inconsistencies in reporting may interfere with quantitative comparisons if the user has only cursory familiarity with mosquito surveillance data. Some inconsistencies can be overcome if they are explicit in the metadata while others may yield biased estimates if they are not changed in how data are recorded. Sharing of metadata and collaboration between modelers and vector control agencies is necessary for improving the quality of the estimations. Efforts to improve sharing, displaying, and comparing vector data from multiple agencies are underway, but existing data must be used with caution.

Association of Anopheles sinensis average abundance and climate factors: Use of mosquito surveillance data in Goyang, Korea

Malaria is a vector-borne disease transmitted by Anopheline mosquitoes. In Korea, Plasmodium vivax malaria is an endemic disease and the main vector is Anopheles sinensis. Plasmodium vivax malaria is common in the northwestern part of South Korea, including in the city of Goyang in regions near the demilitarized zone. This study aimed to identify the best time-series model for predicting mosquito average abundance in Goyang, Korea. Mosquito data were obtained from the Mosquito Surveillance Program of the Goyang Ilsanseogu Public Health Center for the period 2008–2012. Black light traps were set up periodically in a park, a senior community center, and a village community center, public health center, drainage pumping station, cactus research center, restaurant near forest, in which many activities occur at night. In total, 9,512 female mosquitoes were collected at 12 permanent trapping sites during the mosquito season in the study period. Weekly An. sinensis average abundance was positively correlated with minimum grass temperature (r = 0.694, p < 0.001), precipitation (r = 0.326, p = 0.001). The results showed that seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) (1,0,0)(0,0,1)21 with minimum grass temperature variable at time lag0 weeks and the precipitation variable at time lag1 weeks provided that best model of mosquito average abundance. The multivariate model accounted for about 54.1% of the mosquito average abundance variation. Time-series analysis of mosquito average abundance and climate factors provided basic information for predicting the occurrence of malaria mosquitoes.

Effects of Color and Perforated Lid on Ovitrap Preference of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus

ABSTRACT The shape and color of an ovitrap affect the sampling efficiency of mosquitoes. We examined the effect of perforated lids of different colored cups on the preference of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus for oviposition containers. The mosquito species were collected from Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province, Vietnam in April 2016. Females of both species laid eggs in cups without a lid in the order of black, red, and green. However, the number of eggs laid by both species was not different between the black cups with a perforated lid and those without a lid. Aedes aegypti females laid more eggs in red cups with a perforated lid than cups without a lid. Green cups with a perforated lid were not preferred by Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Our results showed that the effect of perforated lids on oviposition preference was dependent on cup color and that it differed between the mosquito species. Out study provides valuable insights for the development of more effective ovitraps for Aedes mosquito surveillance and control.