PRESS RELEASE N° 27/2021 - Fight against mosquitoes: MosquitoAlert, an App enabling citizens to contribute with a click, now available in Italy

ISS, 11 maggio 2021

An App will reveal the types of mosquitoes that will be arriving, punctual and numerous as the warm months draw closer, but above all it will help us fight infestations. All one needs to do is take a simple snapshot of the insect and send it via the MosquitoAlert application to the Task Force which consists of experts from the Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Bologna, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità – ISS (Italian National Institute of Health), the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Venice and the MUSE of Trento.

Already used in Spain, the App has made it possible to collect thousands of photographs validated in real time by expert entomologists and used to track the invasion of new species of mosquitoes, the most infested regions and areas are thus identified and interventions can be organized. This year MosquitoAlert is also available in Italy as well as in 20 other countries thanks to the AIM-COST European project coordinated by Prof. Alessandra della Torre of the Sapienza University of Rome.

The MosquitoAlert Italia Task Force promotes this initiative in our Country, which is undoubtedly one of the most infested in Europe, where mosquitoes are not only a source of often great annoyance, but they can transmit viruses capable of causing serious human pathologies such as the West Nile virus, or the tropical diseases of Chikungunya or Dengue. "Citizens are asked to download the MosquitoAlert App for free on their phone and to remember, whenever they spot or manage to catch a mosquito even after hitting it in self-defense, to send a photograph of it through the same app", explains Dr. Beniamino Caputo, researcher at the Sapienza University and coordinator of MosquitoAlert Italia. "Via the App users can also send simple reports of bites or indicate the presence of stagnant waters where mosquitoes will develop, and it also provides an address to which the entire specimen may be sent. In exchange, users will be able to learn about the species that bothers them and find out about any associated health risks and have access to a map of the different species present on their territory ".

Spring is the time of prevention, i.e. the time to intervene with treatments of public and private areas (gardens, vegetable gardens, terraces), so as to remove with suitable products, or make inaccessible to the mosquitoes, all the small or large water collections where eggs are laid and where

the larvae can develop. But how can we know what species are more dangerous and hence need to be targeted with pest control?

This year there is an additional tool that requires the active collaboration of all citizens to collect data on the different species of mosquitoes, including invasive ones such as the tiger mosquito and other species of Asian origin. MosquitoAlert is a participatory science project (citizen science), of which there are several now, that thanks to the help of citizens enable the collection of invaluable information on biodiversity, invasive species, plastic waste, air and water quality, and on noise and light pollution. Mosquitoes may attract people’s attention less than a beautiful flower or a butterfly, however they represent not only a source of great annoyance for many, but also a risk to public health due to the viruses they transmit through their bites. Now, researchers are asking people to help them gain a more thorough understanding of them so as to be successful in fighting them.

The MosquitoAlert Italia Task Force offers scientific and technical support in the management of this platform, contributing to the rapid validation of the material sent via MosquitoAlert and to the recognition of the mosquito species represented in the pictures. "For this reason" says Dr. Francesco Severini, researcher at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità who has always been involved in health protection research and activities, stated that "the quality of the photos sent is of fundamental importance for an accurate and valid identification. Furthermore, the possibility of sending the photographed specimen to the laboratories of reference will also make it possible to identify the specimens that are difficult to recognize without a microscope or because they are partially damaged".