Efficacy of mosquito traps for collecting potential West Nile mosquito vectors in a natural Mediterranean wetland

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2012 Apr;86(4):642-8. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11-0326.

Abstract

Surveillance, research, and control of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile virus require efficient methods for sampling mosquitoes. We compared the efficacy of BG-Sentinel and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-CO(2) traps in terms of the abundances of host-seeking and blood-fed female mosquitoes and the origin of mosquito bloodmeals. Our results indicate that BG-Sentinel traps that use CO(2) and attractants are as effective as CDC-CO(2) traps for Culex mosquito species, Ochlerotatus caspius, and they are also highly efficient at capturing Anopheles atroparvus host-seeking and blood-fed females with or without CO(2). The CDC-CO(2) trap is the least efficient method for capturing blood-fed females. BG-Sentinel traps with attractants and CO(2) were significantly better at capturing mosquitoes that had fed on mammals than the unbaited BG-Sentinel and CDC-CO(2) traps in the cases of An. atroparvus and Cx. theileri. These results may help researchers to optimize trapping methods by obtaining greater sample sizes and saving time and money.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anopheles / virology
  • Carbon Dioxide / chemistry
  • Culex / virology*
  • Female
  • Insect Vectors / virology*
  • Mediterranean Region
  • Mosquito Control / instrumentation*
  • Population Density
  • Spain
  • West Nile virus / isolation & purification
  • West Nile virus / pathogenicity
  • Wetlands*

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide