Mosquitoes are not only a significant nuisance, but also an actual health threat. Among the 68 species reported in Italy, autochthonous Culex pipiens maintains endemic transmission of West Nile virus, while invasive Aedes albopictus has been responsible of outbreaks of exotic Chikungunya and Dengue viruses. Other invasive Asian Aedes vectors (Ae. japonicus and Ae. koreicus) are spreading in the country. Recognizing this threat, in 2020 the Italian Ministry of Health issued the `National Plan for the prevention, surveillance and control of arboviruses¿ prescribing actions to be taken at regional level to prevent mosquito-borne arbovirus transmission. Although entomological monitoring is an essential pillar of the plan, large-scale implementation is hampered by high costs.
We propose to implement and assess the potential of a low-cost citizen science-based mosquito monitoring approach exploiting the use of an app for smart phones (MosquitoAlert) which allows citizens to send to the research team photos of mosquitoes and larval sites and notifications of bites.
Specifically, we have 5 goals:
1) develop a high-quality citizens¿ engagement campaign to promote MosquitoAlert;
2) develop a relational geo-database system for native/invasive mosquito species records and for specimens collected by the research group and by citizens;
3) develop real-time maps of spatial/seasonal distribution of vector species;
4) predict the probability of risk to be bitten by a vector species;
5) organize a final event for result dissemination among stakeholders.
Our long term vision is to foster a virtuous circle among citizens (who will provide data and see them used for optimized mosquito control), scientists (who will exploit the data to build real-time maps of mosquito vector distribution and arbovirus risk and for research purposes), public administrators (who will gather low-cost monitoring data for control planning) and Pest Control Companies (who will use data for precision control).
