Be afraid, be very afraid, tiger mosquitoes: Biogents has a spin-off in the United States, and we are beginning to sell our traps and attractants…
Read more »Recent Posts
Invert the BG-Counter?!
published on 08. Dec 2017
Scott Willis of the Calascieu Parish Mosquito Control branch in Lake Charles, Louisiana wanted to see if the the BG-Counter could also be used to count mosquitoes trying to find an oviposition site. There is a fan-driven trap that collects just those: The CDC gravid trap, first published by Paul Reiter in 1983 (Mosquito News 43: 496-498). The trap is essentially a fan and a catch bag over a tray of water. Gravid female mosquitoes inspecting the water surface to lay eggs are vacuumed into the catch bag.
Biogents at the AMCA meeting in San Diego, California
published on 30. Jan 2017
Biogents attended the 83rd annual meeting of the AMCA (American Mosquito Control Association) in San Diego, California next week (Feb. 13 – 17, 2017), where we presented our products such as the new BG-Bowl, the BG-GAT, the BG-Counter, and the BG-Sentinel 2, as well as our contract research services!
Read more »Intelligent mosquito counters made in Germany: facing competition from Microsoft?
published on 25. Jul 2016
Scientists all over the world can now track the growth of mosquito populations on their computers. “The BG-Counter is a new kind of mosquito counting machine that allows scientists and health authorities to be proactive against a coming infestation,” says Dr. Martin Geier of Biogents AG in Regensburg, Germany. The high-tech equipment was developed by the Regensburg mosquito experts in cooperation with a company from Silicon Valley, and has been successfully tested since autumn 2015 in the Florida Keys on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. The counter is now going into serial production. Recently, a demonstration model has come online at Lake Starnberg south of Munich. Since mid-June, it has been possible to track the increase in mosquito populations after the recent floods and even the times at which these insects are particularly active.
Last week, Microsoft announced that it was developing a similar mosquito trapping system, indicating that the demand for such intelligent mosquito traps is great and will continue to grow in the future. Globally, mosquitoes are considered among the creatures most dangerous to humans. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from mosquito-borne diseases. Biogents AG, headquartered in the Bavarian city of Regensburg, has a prominent position in this promising market. For example, Biogents traps are considered the gold standard for yellow fever and Asian tiger mosquitoes around the world. No wonder since they are based on more than twenty years of intensive research and development.
Whether the Microsoft traps will be comparable to those made by Biogents remains to be seen. “Microsoft wants to develop traps into some kind of flying laboratories that are supposed to solve every issue related to mosquito monitoring in one fell swoop. Our experience shows that it’s better to establish effective technologies step-by-step and integrate them over time,” says Dr. Geier. Most importantly: Before mosquitoes can be analyzed and counted, they first must be attracted and trapped. When it comes to this essential detail, Biogents leads the field. Their particularly efficient traps are used by public health authorities and scientists worldwide. Even the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using Biogents’ BG-Sentinel traps as a monitoring tool in the fight against Asian tiger mosquitoes and yellow fever mosquitoes. Both these mosquitoes can also transmit dengue, the Zika virus, and the chikungunya viruses, and are therefore considered particularly dangerous. According to the CDC, BG-Sentinel traps are currently the mosquito traps most commonly used to catch adult tiger mosquitoes. The field trials of the BG-Counter on the Florida Keys were very successful. 80-90% of the trapped mosquitoes are correctly identified and counted. “Other mosquito-fighting organisations have indicated their interest in these new counters,” says Geier. Since February, Biogents has joined forces with Irideon SL in Spain and the Technological Educational Institute of Crete to further develop the BG-Counter’s sensors. The aim: to distinguish different mosquito species caught in the trap, and to identify those that are especially problematic as potential disease vectors. This project called REMOSIS (Remote Mosquito Situation and Identification System) is being funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Researchers around the world will then be able to track carriers of disease and invasive species even more accurately than ever before. Read more »
Last week, Microsoft announced that it was developing a similar mosquito trapping system, indicating that the demand for such intelligent mosquito traps is great and will continue to grow in the future. Globally, mosquitoes are considered among the creatures most dangerous to humans. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from mosquito-borne diseases. Biogents AG, headquartered in the Bavarian city of Regensburg, has a prominent position in this promising market. For example, Biogents traps are considered the gold standard for yellow fever and Asian tiger mosquitoes around the world. No wonder since they are based on more than twenty years of intensive research and development.
Whether the Microsoft traps will be comparable to those made by Biogents remains to be seen. “Microsoft wants to develop traps into some kind of flying laboratories that are supposed to solve every issue related to mosquito monitoring in one fell swoop. Our experience shows that it’s better to establish effective technologies step-by-step and integrate them over time,” says Dr. Geier. Most importantly: Before mosquitoes can be analyzed and counted, they first must be attracted and trapped. When it comes to this essential detail, Biogents leads the field. Their particularly efficient traps are used by public health authorities and scientists worldwide. Even the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using Biogents’ BG-Sentinel traps as a monitoring tool in the fight against Asian tiger mosquitoes and yellow fever mosquitoes. Both these mosquitoes can also transmit dengue, the Zika virus, and the chikungunya viruses, and are therefore considered particularly dangerous. According to the CDC, BG-Sentinel traps are currently the mosquito traps most commonly used to catch adult tiger mosquitoes. The field trials of the BG-Counter on the Florida Keys were very successful. 80-90% of the trapped mosquitoes are correctly identified and counted. “Other mosquito-fighting organisations have indicated their interest in these new counters,” says Geier. Since February, Biogents has joined forces with Irideon SL in Spain and the Technological Educational Institute of Crete to further develop the BG-Counter’s sensors. The aim: to distinguish different mosquito species caught in the trap, and to identify those that are especially problematic as potential disease vectors. This project called REMOSIS (Remote Mosquito Situation and Identification System) is being funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Researchers around the world will then be able to track carriers of disease and invasive species even more accurately than ever before. Read more »
Intelligent mosquito counters made in Germany: Facing competition from Microsoft?
published on 30. Jun 2016
Scientists all over the world can now track the growth of mosquito populations on their computers. “The BG-Counter is a new kind of mosquito counting machine that allows scientists and health authorities to be proactive against a coming infestation,” says Dr Martin Geier of Biogents AG in Regensburg, Germany. The high-tech equipment was developed by the Regensburg mosquito experts in cooperation with a company from Silicon Valley and has been successfully tested since autumn 2015 in the Florida Keys on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. The counter is now going into serial production. Recently, a demonstration model has come online at Lake Starnberg south of Munich. Since mid-June, it has been possible to track the increase in mosquito populations after the recent floods and even the times at which these insects are particularly active.
Read more »The BG-Counter on the Florida Keys
published on 23. Jun 2016
Florida Keys (USA) April 2016. “We needed a trap that could be remotely operated, was self-powered, and could transmit catch data back to our office computers. This meant it would have to be able to differentiate between mosquitoes and other insects.”
Read more »Field Testing the BG-Counter, a Novel Automatic Mosquito Monitoring System
published on 28. Apr 2016
An important aspect of successful mosquito control programs is quality control: What mosquito species are actually present, what are their population dynamics, and how are they actually affected by control measures? Answering these questions is the task of mosquito monitoring. This is done with special mosquito traps, often provided worldwide by Biogents (BG), a highly specialised company from Regensburg, Germany. For important disease vector species, Biogents mosquito traps are widely considered the gold standard.
Read more »