Invasion of Tropical Montane Cities by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) Depends on Continuous Warm Winters and Suitable Urban Biotopes

Abstract

We provide the first evidence of a recent invasion of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus in Hasselquist, 1762) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse 1894), followed by dengue virus, in tropical montane cities in south-eastern Brazil, Mariana, and Ouro Preto, at mid and high altitudes, respectively. Long-term temperature variation, dengue public data, and sampling of immature and adult mosquitoes (ovitraps and mosquitraps) in contrasting habitats were used to explain the distribution of Aedes in what in these two cities. From 1961 to 2014, the annual temperature increased significantly due to increases in winter temperatures. In the 1990s/2000s, the winter temperature was 1.3°C warmer than in the 1960s, when it varied from 21.2 to 18.9°C. After 2007, the winter temperatures increased and ranged from 21.6 to 21.3°C. The first autochthonous dengue cases in Mariana and Ouro Preto were in 2007, followed by few occurrences until in 2012, when the mean numbers increased three-fold, and peak at 2013. The continuous ‘warmer winter’ may have trigged the Aedes invasion. Aedes species benefited from higher winter temperatures, which was an important driver of their invasion of the state of Minas Gerais in the 1980s and, more recently, in the remaining montane urban habitats in this region. In both 2009 and 2011, we found more Aedes in Mariana than Ouro Preto, and more Ae. albopictus in green areas and Ae. aegypti in houses, the expected pattern for well-established populations.

Dengue and Dengue Virus in Guangdong, China, 1978–2017: Epidemiology, Seroprevalence, Evolution, and Policies

“…2002–2003 and 2011–2012 in Guangzhou ( 42 ). In these years, warm winters may have allowed adult vectors to persist throughout the winter months, enabling transmission when mosquitoes are typically dormant ( 43 ). Thirdly, the evolutionary characteristics of all local strains of DENV were consistent with globally transmitted strains, showing no localized branches in Guangdong, China.…”

Disentangling associations between vegetation greenness and dengue in a Latin American city: Findings and challenges

“…When preserving green space, we suggest local governments restore typical, native forest understory and arboreal landscapes. When well-managed, these landscapes could largely decrease the presence of vectors for dengue and other infectious diseases ( Pedrosa et al, 2020 ). Most problems with green space in Brazilian cities, as happens in Belo Horizonte, are related to poor management, which leads to habitat degradation and trash accumulation ( Cardoso et al, 2015 , Lobo, 2020 ).…”

“…Aedes aegypti is a highly domesticated mosquito that lays eggs in artificial containers such as old tires, water storage, and trash ( Gubler, 1998 ). Therefore, socioeconomic conditions including lower household accessibility to piped water ( Pedrosa et al, 2020 , Teixeira and Medronho, 2008 ), increased domestic water storage ( Cordeiro et al, 2011 ), irregular or no trash collection ( Cordeiro et al, 2011 , Honorato et al, 2014 , Vargas et al, 2015 ), and lack of basic sanitation ( Cordeiro et al, 2011 , de Almeida et al, 2009 ), have been linked to a higher incidence of dengue. In addition, lack of effective vector control ( Gubler, 2011 ), viral serotype, local population immunity ( Marti et al, 2020 , Salje et al, 2012 ), and human mobility ( Cordeiro et al, 2011 , Zhu et al, 2016 ) have been associated with dengue incidence.…”

Meta-Analysis of the Relative Abundance of Nuisance and Vector Mosquitoes in Urban and Blue-Green Spaces

“…Blue-Green Space Urban Space [12,19,23] Parks and cemeteries Suburban neighborhood [24] Highly vegetated suburban neighborhoods Scarcely vegetated urban neighborhoods [25] Farm and park Urban and suburban neighborhoods [22,25] Parks Urban and suburban neighborhoods [26][27][28] Vegetated suburban areas Scarcely vegetated urban areas [29] Urban forest Peri-urban neighborhood [30] Urban green space Densely urban area Unrelated results were eliminated during the screening process. The abundance, mean, and standard deviation for individual mosquito species were extracted from the studies and categorized by treatment.…”

“…Blue-Green Space Urban Space [12,19,23] Parks and cemeteries Suburban neighborhood [24] Highly vegetated suburban neighborhoods Scarcely vegetated urban neighborhoods [25] Farm and park Urban and suburban neighborhoods [22,25] Parks Urban and suburban neighborhoods [26][27][28] Vegetated suburban areas Scarcely vegetated urban areas [29] Urban forest Peri-urban neighborhood [30] Urban green space Densely urban area [15,31] Peri-urban neighborhood Urban neighborhood [10,14,20,32,33] Suburban area Metropolitan/urban area Analysis of three medically important mosquito genera (i.e., Aedes, Culex, and Anopheles) found no significant differences in mean abundance between blue-green and urban spaces in any of the genera (Table 2). Mosquito taxa using artificial containers as larval habitats demonstrated no significant differences in abundance.…”