First mass development of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae)—its surveillance and control in Germany

Abstract

The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus has undergone a dramatic expansion of its range in the last few decades. Since its first detection in 2007 in Germany at the motorway A5 coming from Italy via Switzerland to Germany, it has been continuously introduced by vehicles, most probably from Italy. After a hint from an alert gardener in an allotment garden area in Freiburg, Southwest Germany, in 2015, a surveillance programme was started focusing on the garden area and adjacent areas as well as most of the cemeteries as potential infestation areas. The surveillance programme confirmed a high infestation of the allotment garden. The container index (CI) exceeded almost 30% in August 2015. In lethal gravid Aedes traps (GATs) and BG-Sentinel traps, 4038 adults were caught. It could be proven that the Aedes population is more or less still spatially restricted to the allotment garden area which is adjacent to a train station where trucks from Novara, Italy, arrive loaded on trains. Outside the garden area, only a few breeding sites with developmental stages and adults were found within a radius of approximately 600 m from the highly infested garden area. It is most likely that Ae. albopictus females are constantly introduced as ‘blind passengers’ to Freiburg via trucks from Italy to Freiburg, Germany. After the first detection of the mass development of Ae. albopictus immediate and comprehensive control measures were initiated to reduce or even eliminate the Aedes population. Citizen awareness, especially of the gardeners, was increased by providing thorough information about the biology and control of Ae. albopictus. Beside environmental management, tablets based on Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) were applied. The success of the control activities by the gardeners is reflected by the data gained during monthly inspection of the garden plots. The number of gardens without any container increased from 17% in July to 22% in August and 35% in September, 2015, resulting in a successful reduction of the Ae. albopictus population. The study underlines the importance of a comprehensive surveillance programme to assess the population density of Ae. albopictus as a basis for integrated control activities.

Experimental risk assessment for chikungunya virus transmission based on vector competence, distribution and temperature suitability in Europe, 2018

“…Such studies are especially important in light of the ongoing spread of Ae. albopictus from source populations around the Mediterranean Sea to central Europe [14-18]. …”

“…albopictus . Still, overwintering was recently suggested in Germany [16-18]. This included local expansion of populations and detection of larvae already in spring.…”

Monitoring of alien mosquitoes of the genus Aedes (Diptera: Culicidae) in Austria

“…It is established in Italy and has even reached its southernmost Mediterranean islands (Di Luca et al 2017 ) and likely played a role in the Italian outbreak of Chikungunya virus in 2007 (Poletti et al 2011 ; Carrieri et al 2012 ). Aedes albopictus is now also found in Switzerland (Flacio et al 2016 ) and Germany (Becker et al 2017 ), countries neighboring Austria. Most Ae.…”

“…albopictus is known for its high ecological and climatic adaptability and is now found as an invasive species on all continents except Antarctica (Bonizzoni et al 2013 ). It is adaptable enough to adjust to more temperate climates (Goubert et al 2017 ) and since its introduction into Germany, it has already been able to reproduce in high numbers at certain sites in 2015 (Becker et al 2017 ). The Asian tiger mosquito is of public health concern since it is a vector of different arboviruses (Paupy et al 2009 ; Schaffner et al 2013 ) like dengue (Rezza 2012 , Ferreira-de-Lima, and Lima-Camara 2018 ) and Chikungunya virus (Poletti et al 2011 ; Carrieri et al 2012 ).…”

Mosquito Mapper: a phone application to map urban mosquitoes

“…Furthermore, mosquitoes already established in Europe such as Culex pipiens and Culex torrentium have been shown to be susceptible to West Nile Virus infection (Leggewie et al 2016). A comprehensive surveillance and control plan for mosquitoes is developed in Germany (Becker et al 2017).…”