Mosquito Alert: science and citizenship united for global health

What if I told you that you yourself, from your mobile, can help locate and control disease-transmitting mosquitoes? Don't you believe it? Well, all you have to do is install an application and take photos when you see a mosquito around you.. A team of scientists will notify you of the result of your information and will also teach you how to prevent these species from breeding at home. You will have heard the motto “unity is strength”. Well, now is the time to apply it.. Your help is critical to public health.

The Mosquito Alert app is a citizen science project that “studies the presence and dispersal of mosquito vectors of disease, and assists in monitoring and controlling them”. This is how one of its co-founders, Aitana Oltra, explains it. This initiative was born in 2013 as a pilot project, and the following year it was expanded to the state level with the support of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).. The platform exemplifies the union of citizens, scientists and public health and environmental managers, key links to fight against the tiger mosquito and other vector species of diseases such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and West Nile fever.

The app is free and anyone can send observations and photos of mosquitoes they find, their breeding places and their bites.. A team of entomologists is in charge of validating the images received and notifying the participant of the result so that they know the fruit of their collaboration.. The experts are publishing all the contributions, making an online map available to the population where observations from almost 10 years can be consulted.

Aitana Oltra explains that citizen participation is essential to control mosquitoes: “They are very small species that can colonize parts that we would never imagine, and thanks to participation we reached those sites. This allows us to have eyes throughout the territory”. Last June, the Ministry of Health integrated Mosquito Alert into the new National Plan for the Prevention, Surveillance and Control of vector-borne diseases.

The project not only wants to receive the help of citizens, but also to teach the population what mosquitoes are like, how they breed and what can be done in private spaces to minimize the number of these insects.

“Sometimes, as citizens, we have a tendency to think that the solution has to be provided by the public administration. But in this case it is a solution that we need to be shared, because we have to act both individually in private spaces and at a public level”, says Oltra.

Mosquito Alert Objectives

Some of the mosquitoes that may be responsible for disease transmission in Europe are invasive species. That is, species not native to this territory, but with a great capacity to adapt and thrive in the urban and suburban environments of the continent.. At Mosquito Alert they focus on the study and development of a surveillance system for five species: tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), Japan mosquito (Aedes japonicus), Korean mosquito (Aedes koreicus) and the common mosquito (Culex pipiens).

These five species are physically distinguished by their color, black or brown, or by their stripes, white or gold.. The platform's experts indicate that the photos sent by citizens are essential to know what species it is.. In this sense, it is important that you try to photograph your thorax. There is even the option of sending the insect by post for cases in which a more specific analysis of the specimen is needed.. In the event that it has not been possible to capture an image, the provision of information is also important. “There are other techniques that can also give much value to observation,” explains Oltra.

Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and West Nile fever can only be transmitted to humans by certain mosquitoes. The cases that have occurred in Spain are usually due to travelers who arrive infected and are bitten by a mosquito capable of transmitting this disorder. “There are several factors involved in transmission and we must be alert because nothing prevents us from having an epidemic of any of these diseases at any time.. The most worrying thing would be if they became autochthonous disorders. It is a real threat, ”says the vice president of the SEIMC forcefully.

Recently, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved a dengue vaccine not only for residents of endemic areas, but also for travelers.

The symptoms of these diseases often go unnoticed because, although they can cause serious complications, the symptoms are often not strong and can resemble those of the flu.. “Between 50% and 80% of cases present without any symptoms”, explains Daniel Camprubí, ISGlobal researcher and doctor at the international health service at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. “Because there are usually no symptoms, there are surely many more cases of infected people than is known,” says the vice president of the SEIMC.

This difficulty is aggravated because Spain is one of the few countries in Europe that does not have a specialty in infectious diseases and “this is a problem when it comes to treating these emerging diseases,” the doctor points out.

Currently, there are no active outbreaks of any emerging tropical diseases, but the Mediterranean basin is considered a high-risk area for the transmission of these disorders according to the World Health Organization (WHO).. The tiger mosquito, the Japan mosquito and the common mosquito are the active species in Spain. The tiger mosquito was detected for the first time in Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona) in 2004, but the country of origin is unknown.. To this day, this insect has colonized most of the Mediterranean coast of Spain, especially the coastal area of Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, the Balearic Islands and some areas of Andalusia.. Jordi Figuerola, a researcher at the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC), explains that this species of mosquito does not stop expanding and that it is also reaching areas such as Extremadura or Madrid. “The expansion of the tiger mosquito is especially worrying because, as a result of climate change, the high season lasts more months and there is a risk that it will become established throughout the year”. This would increase the risk of incidence of these diseases, emphasizes Daniel Camprubí.

Thanks to citizen participation, the arrival of the tiger mosquito was confirmed for the first time in the autonomous communities of Andalusia and Aragon, as well as in several municipalities. Experts point out that it is very important to detect the presence of these mosquito species early, especially for planning action protocols and different control measures.. In 2018, the Japanese mosquito was detected for the first time in Asturias thanks to a photo sent by a person. Subsequently, its presence in the area was confirmed through field work carried out by entomologists.

The project has been extended to a European scale and the application is in 19 languages so that the majority of the population has the option of participating in the face of a global problem. As the planet warms and heavy rains become more common due to climate change, many species of mosquitoes, currently restricted to tropical latitudes, are expected to colonize new temperate regions, particularly Europe. And that is where your role can be fundamental.