Design and Testing of a Novel, Protective Human-Baited Tent Trap for the Collection of Anthropophilic Disease Vectors

Abstract

Currently, there exists a deficit of safe, active trapping methods for the collection of host-seeking Anopheles and other disease-causing arthropod vectors. The gold-standard approach for mosquito collection is that of human landing catch (HLC), in which an individual exposes bare skin to possibly infected vectors. Here, we present the development of a new method for mosquito collection, the Infoscitex tent, which uses modern tent materials coupled with a novel trap design. This provides an efficacious, a non-labor-intensive, and a safe method for vector collection. In these initial studies, we found it collected an average of 27.7 Anophelesgambiae s.l. per trap per night in rural villages in southeastern Senegal, and 43.8 Culex group V per trap per night in the semiurban town of Kedougou, Senegal. In direct comparisons with HLC, the tent was not statistically different for collection of Culex quinquefasciatus in crepuscular sampling, but was significantly less efficacious at trapping the highly motile dusk-biter Aedes aegypti. These studies suggest that the Infoscitex tent is a viable and safe alternative to HLC for Anopheles and Culex sampling in areas of high vector-borne disease infection risk.

Sampling Host-Seeking Anthropophilic Mosquito Vectors in West Africa: Comparisons of an Active Human-Baited Tent-Trap Against Gold Standard Methods

“…gambiae. 1,18 Second, it is possible that some mosquitoes or mosquito species are more able to escape from the suction at the ports positioned above the open-mesh panels. This possibility might be easily remedied by increasing the fan speed by the control box.…”

“…The design and operation of the IST tent trap has been previously described. 1 For all experiments, a human collector rested or slept in the custom designed camping tent for the duration of trapping each night, with the doors zipped and the airflow panels on all four sides opened to make a 5 cm gap of exposed micro-mesh fabric. All tests were performed outside, and the tent was always deployed with its rainfly attached to protect the collector from rainfall that would often occur during the nights of testing.…”

“…9 In Senegal, sampling was performed overnight (10:00 PM-6:00 AM) over 16 nights in the semi-urban town of Kedougou, which has been described previously. 1 Testing was performed outdoors with a rotation of two collectors that would sleep underneath either a deltamethrin-treated Permanet 2.0 (Vestergaard Frandsen SA, Denmark) with a CDC Light trap hung near their feet, or sleeping in the IST that was placed 10 m away. A treated net was used to prevent the sleeping human from being bitten if they inadvertently moved in the night and rested an exposed body part against the net; it was also shown in another study that the use of insecticide-coated nets had no effect on the ability of the CDC Light trap to catch An.…”

“…It has been well documented that this technique, although effective and the benchmark for calculation of a variety of entomological measures, is laborious, skill-dependent, difficult to manage, and puts participants at direct risk of vector-borne disease. [1][2][3][4][5] As a result of these concerns, development of alternatives to HLC for the capture of host-seeking vectors is important. Currently used alternative approaches include the Centers for Disease Control Light Trap, 3 baited odor boxes, 6 vector-electrocuting grids, 4 and a variety of human-baited tent trap designs including the Mbita, Ifakara B and C, and Furvela tent traps.…”

“…1 The IST tent meets the initial critical requirement of essentially zero exposure of the person in the tent to biting vectors, while still attracting and collecting vectors. It successfully sampled An.…”