MosqTent: An individual portable protective double-chamber mosquito trap for anthropophilic mosquitoes

Abstract

Author summaryHere, we describe the development of the MosqTent, an innovative double-chamber mosquito trap in which a human being attracts mosquitoes while is protected from being bitten within the inner chamber of the trap, while mosquitoes are lured to enter an outer chamber where they are trapped. The MosqTent previously collected an average of 3,000 anophelines/man-hour compared to 240 anophelines/man-hour for the human landing catch (HLC), thereby providing high numbers of human host–seeking mosquitoes while protecting the collector from mosquito bites. The MosqTent performed well by collecting a high number of specimens of Anopheles marajoara, a local vector and anthropophilic mosquito species present in high density, but not so well in collecting An. darlingi, an anthropophilic mosquito species considered the main vector in Brazil but is present in low-density conditions in the area. The HLC showed a higher efficiency in collecting An. darlingi in these low-density conditions. The MosqTent is light (<1 kg), portable (comes as a bag with two handles), flexible (can be used with other attractants), adaptable (can be deployed in a variety of environmental settings and weather conditions), and it can be used in the intra-, peri-, and in the extradomicile. Also, the MosqTent collected similar portions of parous females and anthropophilic mosquito species and collects specimens suitable for downstream analysis. Further developments may include testing for other fabric colors, different mesh sizes and dimensions for other hematophagous insects and conditions, additional chemical mosquito attractants, and even the replacement of the human attractant in favor of other attractants. MosqTent modifications that would allow the trap to be applied as a vector control tool with killing action could also be explored.

Field evaluation of the BG-Malaria trap for monitoring malaria vectors in rural Tanzanian villages

“…In recent years, certain major breakthroughs have been made in the search for better surveillance methods. Examples include development of highly effective synthetic lures similar to natural host odours [ 27 , 28 ] and recent development of the mosquito electrocuting trap [ 13 , 14 ] and the MosqTent [ 47 ], which compared sufficiently with human landing catches when field-tested for sampling malaria vectors. Although comparable to HLC, these mentioned traps are based on the same system, regardless protection, the presence of a volunteer is still required, which can be susceptible to an error bias due to the difference in attractiveness among humans, thus hindering the standardization of such methods.…”

Anophelines species and the receptivity and vulnerability to malaria transmission in the Pantanal wetlands, Central Brazil

“…Inside the domicile, mosquitoes were collected at rest on the internal walls and furniture. Peridomicile collections were performed approximately at a distance of 6 m from the house using a protected human-baited mosquito trap (MosqTent®) ( Lima et al 2017 ). Extradomicile collections were carried out using a Shannon trap baited with a horse on the south bank of the Miranda River ( Fig.…”

Environmental variables associated with anopheline larvae distribution and abundance in Yanomami villages within unaltered areas of the Brazilian Amazon

“…A more detailed description of the classification of natural breeding habitats within low-order river-floodplain systems, procedures for the location of larval habitats and the larval sampling methodology used in our study area have been provided elsewhere [ 26 ]. We employed MosqTent traps [ 27 ] to collect host-seeking adult female anophelines during three or four consecutive nights in each village, alternating during each field trip between 4 h (18:00–22:00 h) collections at the same time in the intra, peri and extradomicilliary environments and 12 h collections in the peridomicily or extradomicily. These adult collections occurred concomitantly with the larval samplings.…”