New Tools for Surveillance of Adult Yellow Fever Mosquitoes: Comparison of Trap Catches With Human Landing Rates in an Urban Environment

Abstract

A novel mosquito trapping system, the BG-Sentinel trap, was evaluated as a monitoring tool for adult Aedes aegypti in field tests in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Human landing/biting collections, a gas-powered CO2 trap, and a Fay-Prince trap with only visual cues serving as references to evaluate the efficacy of the new trap. The BG-Sentinel is a simple suction trap that uses upward-directed air currents as well as visual cues to attract mosquitoes. The trap was tested with a new dispenser system (BG-Lure) that releases artificial human skin odors and needs no CO2. In comparison with the two other traps, the BG-Sentinel caught significantly more Ae. aegypti. Although human landing rates were the highest, there was no significant difference between human landing rates and the capture rates of the BG-Sentinel trap. The finding indicates that the trap can be considered as an acceptable alternative to human landing/biting collections in the surveillance of adult host-seeking dengue vectors. The addition of BG-Lure to the gas-powered CO2 trap greatly increased its efficacy. This combination, however, was not significantly more effective than the BG-Sentinel without CO2. In a 6-month comparison between the BG-Sentinel and a sticky ovitrap for gravid females, the BG-Sentinel proved to be a far more efficient and sensitive tool to measure the density of Ae. aegypti populations.

Olfaction in vector-host interactions

“…Recent results from trapping with odour-baited MM-X or BG-Sentinel traps , Kröckel et al 2006, Njiru et al 2006, Williams et al 2006b suggest that the application of such traps, provided the odorant stimulus is highly competitive with natural host odour, are likely to become reality in the near future. Novel synthetic odorant blends that disrupt the natural behaviour of mosquito vectors may be used in addition to current control methods (Greenwood 2008, Takken and) to achieve a greater effect than is presently possible.…”

“…A new ventilator trap (BG-Sentinel™) used with a combination of odorant substances found on human skin focuses on host-seeking dengue mosquitoes. The BG-Sentinel trap has been shown to have much better catching rates than conventional traps (Kröckel et al 2006, Meeraus et al 2008. Both trap types allow for more specific and refined vector control campaigns in situations where the traditional tools are often marginally effective.…”

“…The efficacy of mass trapping, despite its underlying conceptual, technical, logistical and financial limitations, has been successfully demonstrated for mosquito population reduction in the USA (Anonymous 2005, Kline and Lemire 1998. However, this strategy is still being developed, with current efforts being centered on searching for new attractants and attractant formulations (Healy and Copland 2000, Okumu et al 2010a, Qui et al 2007, improving on existing ones , and developing trapping devices (Kline 2006, Kröckel et al 2006. Efficacy trials of candidate synthetic attractants under field ) and semi-field conditions (Njiru et al 2006, Okumu et al 2010a, Olanga et al 2010 are also underway.…”

Surveillance of Mosquitoes for Zika Virus in Westchester County, New York

“…This study had access to six BG traps that used an attractant produced by BioGents [8]. A 12V/14-Ahr BioQuip DC battery pack (Model 2861) was used to power each BG trap.…”

Identification of dengue viruses in naturally infected Aedes aegypti females captured with BioGents (BG)-Sentinel traps in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

“…A total of 187 mosquitoes were collected with BioGents (BG)-Sentinel traps 3 from January 2009 to June 2010 in 15 urban residential areas in the northern zone of Manaus, AM, Brazil. Sixty BG-Sentinel traps (4 traps in each of the 15 areas) were installed in each area every 2 weeks for a 24-h time period.…”