Biogents Mosquito Blog

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 »

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.

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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.”

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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.

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Since its introduction and establishment in Italy during the early 1990s, the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, has spread over large parts of Italy and other Mediterranean countries. Aedes albopictus is both a nuisance and a competent vector for various arthropod-borne pathogens. Although efficient traps for Ae. albopictus exist and are used for population monitoring, their use as a control tool has not yet been studied. We evaluated Biogents BG-Sentinel mosquito traps, used with the BG-Lure, as control tools in northern Italy. The trial was performed as a controlled experiment in which 3 intervention sites, equipped with 7 or 8 BG-Sentinel traps each, were matched with 3 comparable control sites. Trap density ranged from 1 trap per 150 m2 to 1 per 350 m2. Mosquito populations were monitored at both the intervention and control sites with weekly human landing collections (HLC) and ovitraps. Between 64% and 87% fewer Ae. albopictus individuals were collected by HLC at the intervention sites with the BG-Sentinel mosquito traps, as compared to the untreated control sites. These results indicate that the sustained use and proper placement of efficient mosquito traps can significantly reduce Ae. albopictus biting pressure.

Read more about the results in the publication:
Englbrecht, C., Gordon, S., Venturelli, C., Rose, A., and Geier, M. (2015). Evaluation of BG-Sentinel Trap as a Management Tool to Reduce Aedes albopictus Nuisance in an Urban Environment in Italy. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 31, 16–25.

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40 to 50 BGS traps were utilized during an intensive 5-year surveillance as part of an ‘Area-wide Management Program for the Asian Tiger Mosquito’ in NJ, USA. The results are now published. The authors say that the Biogents Sentinel (BGS) trap is a very effective tool to monitor adult populations of Aedes albopictus and that although BGS traps are becoming the gold standard instrument for Ae. albopictus surveillance, they can also be used to collect other important mosquito species, which can enhance existing vector surveillance programs.

Read more about the results in the publication:
Unlu I., Farajollahi A. (2014) Multiyear Surveillance for Aedes albopictus with Biogents Sentinel Trap Counts for Males and Species Composition of Other Mosquito Species. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 30(2):122-125.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2987/14-6401.1

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Four different traps, Biogents Sentinel trap (BG trap), Heavy Duty Encephalitis Vector Survey trap (EVS trap), Centres for Disease Control miniature light trap (CDC trap) and Mosquito Magnet Patriot Mosquito trap (MM trap) were compared in a 4×4 latin square study. In the years 2012 and 2013, more than seventy 24-hour trap comparisons were conducted at ten different locations in northern and southern Germany, representing urban, forest and floodplain biotopes.

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Regensburg 2014/03/27 – Dengue fever is widely distributed in Brazil and other tropical and subtropical regions and a constant threat to the local population. Dengue is mosquito-borne virus that infects up to 100 million people each year. Because there is no effective vaccine available, the only way to control the disease is by controlling the dengue mosquitoes. While the use of conventional insecticides is widespread, they have become increasingly ineffective due to insecticide resistance.

A new approach to control the mosquitoes could be the mosquito trap developed by Biogents. A large-scale study published in the Entomological Society of America’s Journal of Medical Entomology has demonstrated for the first time that these traps can also reduce the number of dengue mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) in a broad urban area. The study co-financed by the world-bank was conducted over 18 months with more than 1400 households and 450 Biogents traps in Manaus, Brazil.

The result: „The study shows that the Biogents traps can significantly reduce the amount of adult female Aedes aegypti especially in the rainy season” says Prof. Eiras from the University Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil). The number of dengue infections in the test areas also decreased. An additional advantage for household trap users was the Biogents traps also reduced numbers of the annoying and often numerous tropical house mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus). Households that used the traps reported a noticeable reduction in the nuisance from mosquitoes. Additional studies will be required to investigate the effects of trapping on larger scales and during epidemics.

Publication:
Degener et al, 2014: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Mass Trapping With BG-Sentinel Traps for Dengue Vector Control: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Manaus, Brazil, J. Med. Entomol. 51(2): 000Ð000 (2014); DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1603/ME13107

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