From eggs to bites: do ovitrap data provide reliable estimates of Aedes albopictus biting females?

PeerJ

article

Mattia Manica¹  Roberto Rosಠ Alessandra della Torre¹  Beniamino Caputo¹ 

[1] Dipartimento di Sanitá Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia – Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Sapienza University of Rome;Dipartimento di Biodiversità ed Ecologia Molecolare/Centro Ricerca e Innovazione

关键词: Invasive mosquitoes;    Epidemiological modelling;    Chikungunya;    Biting rate;    R0;    Zika;    Dengue;    Europe;    Ovitrap;    Arboviruses;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.2998

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAedes albopictus is an aggressive invasive mosquito species that represents a serious health concern not only in tropical areas, but also in temperate regions due to its role as vector of arboviruses. Estimates of mosquito biting rates are essential to account for vector-human contact in models aimed to predict the risk of arbovirus autochthonous transmission and outbreaks, as well as nuisance thresholds useful for correct planning of mosquito control interventions. Methods targeting daytime and outdoor biting Ae. albopictus females (e.g., Human Landing Collection, HLC) are expensive and difficult to implement in large scale schemes. Instead, egg-collections by ovitraps are the most widely used routine approach for large-scale monitoring of the species. The aim of this work was to assess whether ovitrap data can be exploited to estimate numbers of adult biting Ae. albopictus females and whether the resulting relationship could be used to build risk models helpful for decision-makers in charge of planning of mosquito-control activities in infested areas.MethodOvitrap collections and HLCs were carried out in hot-spots of Ae. albopictus abundance in Rome (Italy) along a whole reproductive season. The relationship between the two sets of data was assessed by generalized least square analysis, taking into account meteorological parameters.Result 1 in 86% and 40% of sampling dates for Chikungunya and Zika, respectively; R0  1 for Chikungunya is also to be expected when few/no eggs/day are collected by ovitraps.DiscussionThis work provides the first evidence of the possibility to predict mean number of adult biting Ae. albopictus females based on mean number of eggs and to compute the threshold of eggs/ovitrap associated to epidemiological risk of arbovirus transmission in the study area. Overall, however, the large confidence intervals in the model predictions represent a caveat regarding the reliability of monitoring schemes based exclusively on ovitrap collections to estimate numbers of biting females and plan control interventions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY