Journal of Medical Entomology (2021) 58, 1287-1297

Mara Moreno-Gómez, Rubén Bueno-Marí, Andrea Drago and Miguel A. Miranda (2021)
From the field to the laboratory: quantifying outdoor mosquito landing rate to better evaluate topical repellents
Journal of Medical Entomology 58 (3), 1287-1297
Abstract: Vector-borne diseases are a worldwide threat to human health. Often, no vaccines or treatments exist. Thus, personal protection products play an essential role in limiting transmission. The World Health Organization (WHO) arm-in-cage (AIC) test is the most common method for evaluating the efficacy of topical repellents, but it remains unclear whether AIC testing conditions recreate the mosquito landing rates in the field. This study aimed to estimate the landing rate outdoors, in an area of Europe highly infested with the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894, Diptera: Culididae)), and to determine how to replicate this rate in the laboratory. To assess the landing rate in the field, 16 individuals were exposed to mosquitoes in a highly infested region of Italy. These field results were then compared to results obtained in the laboratory: 1) in a 30 m³ room where nine volunteers were exposed to different mosquito abundances (ranges: 15–20, 25–30, and 45–50) and 2) in a 0.064 m³ AIC test cage where 10 individuals exposed their arms to 200 mosquitoes (as per WHO requirements). The highest mosquito landing rate in the field was 26.8 landings/min. In the room test, a similar landing rate was achieved using 15–20 mosquitoes (density: 0.50–0.66 mosquitoes/m³) and an exposure time of 3 min. In the AIC test using 200 mosquitoes (density: 3,125 mosquitoes/m³), the landing rate was 229 ± 48 landings/min. This study provides useful reference values that can be employed to design new evaluation standards for topical repellents that better simulate field conditions.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Rubén Bueno-Marí, Miguel Angel Miranda

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Aedes albopictus		Italy