ARS | Publication request: Detection and depiction of spatio-temporal activity in mosquito vector populations.

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: October 18, 2009
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Mosquitoes transmit blood-borne disease agents that cause morbidity and mortality in humans and animals. Preemption of epidemics/epizootics of mosquito-borne disease is predicated on the timely and effective application of mosquito controls. Such timing is decided on the basis of mosquito population responses to (and capture by) mechanical traps that are placed in the environment. These responses, which are in a constant state of flux, are affected by habitat variables and endogenous cycles in mosquitoes and influence diel activity cycles and patterns of dispersion in the adult mosquito population. The interpretation of trap response data and the depiction of these data in a spatio-temporal context by computer-based mapping systems is based on the assumption that the data are accurate and free of false negative responses. Trap response data are also the key element in surveillance systems that use statistical, geographic, and/or biological models to assess and/or predict disease transmission risk. The usefulness of such models is limited by the extent to which they output false positive disease transmission risk scenarios. Other systematic and procedural effects influence the interpretation and depiction of spatio-temporal activity in mosquito vector populations. Some of these include errors in fact, discrepancies in scale, and the subjective nature of boundaries.