Suppression of Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito, using a 'hot spot' approach.
BACKGROUND
Recent changes in climate and human behavior have led to dramatic increases in the abundance and geographic expansion of invasive mosquito vectors such as Aedes albopictus. Although source reduction has been shown to be effective in reducing mosquito populations, thousands of backyards need to be inspected during door-to-door campaigns, which is labor intensive and expensive. We identified 'hot spots' as high (five or more female or male Ae. albopictus) adult mosquito populations at very focal locations. We tested whether hot spot source reduction efforts were effective in reducing mosquito populations in the early summer season (June to July).


RESULTS
Analysis of historical data from the study sites indicated the proportion of hot spots in the control site relative to the intervention site was much greater in 2011, when hot spot treatments were applied to the intervention site, than in 2012, 2013 and 2014 combined, when no sites were treated [OR (95% CI) = 3.9 (1.8, 8.5), Z = 3.39, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Hot spot treatments can be incorporated into existing integrated mosquito management programs to increase effectiveness while reducing the time, cost and effort spent on methods such as door-to-door source reduction. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Center for Vector Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.|Mercer County Mosquito Control, West Trenton, NJ, USA.
Isik
I
Unlu
Mercer County Mosquito Control, West Trenton, NJ, USA.
Kim
K
Klingler
Mercer County Mosquito Control, West Trenton, NJ, USA.
Nicholas
N
Indelicato
Center for Vector Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.|Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Ary
A
Faraji
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, North Seattle, WA, USA.
Daniel
D
Strickman
D000330:Aedes; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D011156:Population Density
New Jersey; hot spot treatment; mosquito control; nuisance mosquito; public health