For the few, not the many: local economic conditions constrain the large-scale management of invasive mosquitoes

Invasive mosquitoes are an emerging ecological and sanitary issue. Many factors have been suggested as drivers or barriers to their control, still no study quantified their influence over mosquito management by local authorities, nor their interplay with local economic conditions.We assessed how multiple environmental, sanitary, and socio-economic factors affected the engagement of municipalities in Italy (n = 7,679) in actions against Aedes albopictus, an invasive mosquito affecting human health and well-being, between 2000 and 2020.Municipalities are more prone to manage A. albopictus if more urbanized, in lowlands, with long infestation periods and close to outbreaks of Chikungunya, for which A. albopictus is a competent vector. Moreover, these variables were more strongly associated with management in municipalities with a high median income, and thus more economic resources. Only 25.5% of Italian municipalities approved regulations for managing A. albopictus, and very few of them were in Southern Italy, the most deprived area of the country.Our findings indicate that local economic conditions moderate the effect of other drivers of mosquito control and ultimately can lead to better management of A. albopictus. Thus, to ensure social justice, existing policies for managing the impacts of invasive vectors should explicitly address territorial inequalities by providing policymakers with adequate economic means.

Displacement of Aedes albopictus by Aedes aegypti in Gainesville, Florida

ABSTRACT Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus are invasive mosquitoes, capable of vectoring arboviruses such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika. Recent shifts in spatial distribution indicate there is a resurgence of Ae. aegypti in certain regions of Florida. After a 26-year absence, Ae. aegypti larvae were collected in a downtown neighborhood in Gainesville, Florida, in November 2019. Subsequent surveys confirmed that Ae. albopictus was completely displaced by Ae. aegypti in this neighborhood, whereas Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti coexisted around this community focus, and Ae. albopictus alone has been found elsewhere in the city and county since the 1990s. Field surveys revealed that Ae. aegypti is resurging in the downtown area of Gainesville and is actively dispersing to adjacent neighborhoods. Thus, Ae. aegypti could potentially replace Ae. albopictus across more of urban Gainesville in north-central Florida, as reported recently in coastal cities of northeastern Florida.

Description of an integrated management system for invasive mosquitoes at entry-exit ports in Zhejiang, China

Background As mosquitoes are one of the most harmful creatures in the world, recent high-frequency interceptions of invasive mosquito species have emphasized the need to enhance the biological security of the Zhejiang Province in China. As such, an integrated management system should be implemented to monitor the vectors of mosquito-borne diseases during data digitization and the processing of permanent E-forms and provide an online one-stop identification service. Methods This system is a semi-open network built on the latest Microsoft.NET Framework, Active Server Page.NET (ASP.NET) and Internet Information Services (IIS) for the Windows 2000 service as a basic infrastructure platform. This creates a physical separation between the data input as the back-page intranet and the online automated Lucid identification as the front-page internet through the digital interchange platform and security firewall. Results This system mainly comprises three core modules: automated statistical analysis of operational data, online vector identification and digital specimen storage management, in addition to accessory modules. The joint analysis of invasive and native data collected between 2011 and 2017 at 14 surveillance points in the Zhejiang Province, excluding Ningbo Port, provided insights into the geographical differences in species abundance and the dynamic nature of seasonal interception within the statistical analysis module. Most importantly, multi-access keys to mosquitoes based on Lucid software were loaded in the module for vector identification. Subscribers can utilize this procedure for the online identification of 2 subfamilies, 10 genera and 33 mosquitoes by selecting any typical morphological feature in the classification system that matches the current images at hand. Conclusions Our report suggests that this system can enhance the ability to master the basic information on invasive mosquitoes and satisfy the increasing requirements for public health safety in the integrated management of vector-borne diseases.

The detection and significance of emerging insecticide resistance in mosquitoes

Mosquito-borne arboviruses are increasing in incidence around the world. Australia enjoys some protection from pests and diseases afforded by its geographic isolation coupled with strict biosecurity control at its borders. However, as the volume of global trade, travel and transport expands, risk of exotic incursions to Australia is increasing. Detection of foreign mosquitoes at airports and seaports around Australia is becoming commonplace. The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, which has expanded its range throughout Europe and the Americas1, has not become established in mainland Australia, but is encountered as an exotic incursion2. The yellow fever mosquito and dengue vector, Aedes. aegypti, occurs naturally in northern Queensland, but is also captured at Australia’s ports on a recurrent basis as an incursion from overseas3. Although Ae. aegypti is established in Australia, its detection as an incursion is still cause for concern. Apart from the possibility that invasive mosquitoes will carry exotic arboviruses, genetic characteristics of a foreign insect population can be very different from those observed in local mosquitoes, particularly in terms of insecticide resistance. Our recent research has shown that invading mosquitoes from overseas carry insecticide resistance alleles not found in Australia4 and our development of a global genomic database is helping us to pinpoint their source.