Enhancement of Aedes albopictus collections by ovitrap and sticky adult trap

Abstract

BackgroundIn the last decades, Aedes albopictus has become an increasing public health threat in tropical as well as in more recently invaded temperate areas due to its capacity to transmit several human arboviruses, among which Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika. Enhancing the efficiency of currently used collection approaches, such as ovitraps and sticky traps, is desirable for optimal monitoring of the species abundance, for assessment of the risk of arbovirus transmission and for the optimisation of control activities.FindingsTwo sets of 4 × 4 Latin-square experiments were carried out in Tirana (Albania) to test whether modifications in ovitrap shape and size and in oviposition substrate would increase collections of Ae. albopictus eggs and whether hay-infusion would increase adult catches by sticky trap. Generalized Linear Mixed Models with negative binomial error distribution were carried out to analyse the data. Cylindrical ovitraps lined with germination paper yielded significantly higher egg catches than those exploiting either the (commonly used) wooden paddles or floating polystyrene blocks as oviposition substrates. No difference was observed between cylindrical and conical shaped ovitraps. Ovitraps and sticky traps baited with hay infusion yielded significantly higher egg and adult catches than un-baited ones. A significant relationship between ovitrap and sticky trap catches was observed both in the absence and in the presence of attractants, with ovitrap catches increasing more than sticky trap catches at increasing adult female densities.ConclusionsThis study provides grounds for optimisation of ovitraps and sticky traps as monitoring tools for Ae. albopictus by (i) supporting use of germination paper as most appropriate oviposition substrate; (ii) suggesting the possible use of stackable conical ovitraps for large scale monitoring; (iii) confirming the use of hay-infusion to increase egg catches in ovitraps, and showing that hay-infusion also significant increases adult catches by sticky traps.

Phenotypic and genotypic pyrethroid resistance ofAedes albopictus, with focus on the 2017 chikungunya outbreak in Italy

“…). As in Pichler et al , collections at each sampling site were carried out with five or more ovitraps to avoid oversampling of siblings, and egg samples on germination paper were sealed in plastic bags and sent by express courier to the Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases (DPHID) at Sapienza University in Rome.…”

A Novel Sampling Method to Measure Socioeconomic Drivers of Aedes albopictus Distribution in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

“…albopictus and the socioeconomic attributes of the NPA. GLMs have been used numerous times in vector epidemiological research and represent a robust method of variable association for presumed linear relationships [ 38 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]. We also generated land cover variables based on the heterogeneity of the landscape around each trap site to include in the model as predictors.…”

The composition, diversity, and distribution of mosquito fauna (Diptera: Culicidae) in Kosovo

“…Geographical distribution patterns of anophelines are better documented than culicines in the former Yugoslavia. However in recent years, there have been numerous studies of mosquito fauna and distribution in neighboring countries such as Albania and Serbia, including the arrival of the invasive species Aedes albopictus into Europe and its establishment (Petric et al , , Velo et al , ). Furthermore, in Kosovo, species diversity in all genera is largely undocumented.…”