Efficiency of Bti-based floodwater mosquito control in Sweden -four examples

Abstract: Mass-occurrence of floodwater mosquitoes, mainly Aedes sticticus, in the River Dalälven floodplains in central Sweden has caused public health issues and economic losses for many decades. In the summer of 2000, the problem escalated and the Biological Mosquito Control project was initiated with the aim of reducing mosquito nuisance. Larviciding, based on Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti), was chosen as the optimal method. However, high abundance of blood-seeking floodwater mosquitoes after Bti-treatments on some occasions raised questions about the effectiveness of the treatments. This study evaluated the effect of Bti-larviciding on abundance of larval and adult floodwater mosquitoes in four selected study areas, each represented by a CDC-trap site and a 5 km radius. The four areas differed with respect to their mosquito control history and the coverage of larval habitats with Bti-larviciding. The Bti-treatments provided a significant reduction of mosquito larval abundance, and normally 100% reduction was achieved. Thus, high abundance of blood-seeking mosquitoes could not be explained by insufficient larval control by Bti. However, a significant negative correlation was found between high numbers of blood-seeking floodwater mosquitoes and the coverage of larval habitats with Bti-larviciding within 5 km around the trap site. Consistently low numbers of mosquitoes (less than 1000 per trap/night) were only found in the two areas with high treatment coverage of larval habitats (97-100%). Evaluating the mosquito control efficiency showed that larval habitat coverage of at least about 95% is required in order to accomplish consistent low floodwater mosquito numbers. The conclusion from this analysis is that the coverage of larval habitats with Bti-larviciding in parts of the River Dalälven floodplains has to increase in order to guarantee an improvement of the public health problems caused by Aedes sticticus and other floodwater mosquitoes to both humans and animals in the region

Sindbis virus polyarthritis outbreak signalled by virus prevalence in the mosquito vectors

Polyarthritis and rash caused by Sindbis virus (SINV), was first recognised in northern Europe about 50 years ago and is known as Ockelbo disease in Sweden and Pogosta disease in Finland. This mosquito-borne virus occurs mainly in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and in northern Europe it is suggested to cause regularly reoccurring outbreaks. Here a seven-year cycle of SINV outbreaks has been referred to in scientific papers, although the hypothesis is based solely on reported human cases. In the search for a more objective outbreak signal, we evaluated mosquito abundance and SINV prevalence in vector mosquitoes from an endemic area in central Sweden. Vector mosquitoes collected in the River Dalälven floodplains during the years before, during, and after the hypothesised 2002 outbreak year were assayed for virus on cell culture. Obtained isolates were partially sequenced, and the nucleotide sequences analysed using Bayesian maximum clade credibility and median joining network analysis. Only one SINV strain was recovered in 2001, and 4 strains in 2003, while 15 strains were recovered in 2002 with significantly increased infection rates in both the enzootic and the bridge-vectors. In 2002, the Maximum Likelihood Estimated infection rates were 10.0/1000 in the enzootic vectors Culex torrentium/pipiens, and 0.62/1000 in the bridge-vector Aedes cinereus, compared to 4.9/1000 and 0.0/1000 in 2001 and 0.0/1000 and 0.32/1000 in 2003 Sequence analysis showed that all isolates belonged to the SINV genotype I (SINV-I). The genetic analysis revealed local maintenance of four SINV-I clades in the River Dalälven floodplains over the years. Our findings suggest that increased SINV-I prevalence in vector mosquitoes constitutes the most valuable outbreak marker for further scrutinising the hypothesized seven-year cycle of SINV-I outbreaks and the mechanisms behind

Introduction and Dispersal of Sindbis Virus from Central Africa to Europe

Bird-hosted viruses have the potential to be transported over large areas of the world and to be transmitted in distant geographical regions. Sindbis virus (SINV) is a mosquito-borne alphavirus that is locally amplified in a bird-mosquito enzootic cycle and distributed all over the Old World and Australia/Oceania. Sindbis virus genotype I (SINV-I) is the cause of disease outbreaks in humans in South Africa as well as in northern Europe. To trace the evolutionary history and potential strain-disease association of SINV-I, we sequenced 36 complete genomes isolated from field material in Europe, as well as in Africa and the Middle East, collected over 58 years. These were analyzed together with 30 additional published whole SINV-I genomes using Bayesian analysis. Our results suggested that SINV-I was introduced only once to northern Europe from central Africa, in the 1920s. After its first introduction to Sweden, it spread east and southward on two separate occasions in the 1960s and 1970s. Another introduction from central Africa to southern/central Europe seems to have occurred, and where these two introductions meet, one recombination event was detected in central Europe. In addition, another recombinant strain was found in central Africa, where the most divergent SINV-I strains also originated. IMPORTANCE This study shows that only a single introduction of SINV into a new geographical area is required for spread and establishment, provided that the requisite vector(s) and reservoir(s) of epizootological and epidemiological importance are present. Furthermore, we present the first report of recombination between two strains of SINV in nature. Our study increases the knowledge on new introductions and dispersal of arboviruses in general and of SINV in particular.Peer reviewe

Outbreaks of Tularemia in a Boreal Forest Region Depends on Mosquito Prevalence

Background. We aimed to evaluate the potential association of mosquito prevalence in a boreal forest area with transmission of the bacterial disease tularemia to humans, and model the annual variation of disease using local weather data

Food webs under changing biodiversity - Top-down control

Report on effects of changing predation pressure on benthic and pelagic specie

Mosquito-borne viruses in western Europe : a review

Several mosquito-borne arboviruses belonging to the genera Alphavirus, Flavivirus, and Bunyavirus have been reported to occur in mosquitoes and to infect humans and other vertebrates in western Europe. These zoonotic viruses circulate in nature either in an Aedes-mammal, Anopheles-mammal, or Culex-bird transmission cycle. Infected humans normally do not contribute to the virus circulation. West Nile virus (Flavivirus) caused an outbreak of fever, malaise, pain in eyes and muscles, and headache and encephalitis in southern France during 1962-1965, and an outbreak of encephalitis with a high case-fatality rate in Romania during 1996. West Nile virus has been isolated from birds, horses, and mosquitoes in Portugal, France, the former Czechoslovakia, and Romania. These data, together with reports of antibodies to West Nile virus in birds, domestic mammals, and humans in several other countries, show virus activity in southern and central Europe. Sindbis virus (Alphavirus) caused outbreaks of fever, rash, and arthralgia in northern Europe during 1981-1982, 1988, and 1995. Two California group viruses (Bunyavirus), Tahyna virus and Inkoo virus, have been identified in western Europe. Tahyna virus causes fever and respiratory symptoms and sometimes also central nervous system involvement. It occurs in most countries of central and southern Europe, and is most common in central Europe. Inkoo virus has not been associated with disease in humans in western Europe although Russian studies indicated that it can cause encephalitis. Inkoo virus occurs in northern Europe, especially in the far north. Batai virus of the Bunyamwera-group (Bunyavirus) occurs in southern, central, and northern Europe, most frequently in central Europe. The antibody prevalence in humans generally is very low, indicating that the potential of this virus as a human pathogen is probably low in Europe. The Lednice virus (Bunyavirus) has been reported only from the former Czechoslovakia and Romania, and apparently is not transmitted to humans. In addition to the six mosquito-borne viruses documented in western Europe, there is serological evidence of infection with a Semliki Forest complex virus (Alphavirus) in central and southern Europe. Although mosquito-borne viruses presently are not considered to be the cause of major health problems in western Europe, the morbidity caused by Sindbis virus, and the morbidity and mortality caused by West Nile virus, merit further studies on the ecology, epidemiology, and medical importance of these viruses. The California group of viruses and a virus of the Semliki Forest complex may be the cause of unrecognized health problems in western Europe. Specific sampling of potential vectors for virus isolation, detailed characterization of virus strains, and the use of fully characterized strains for serological diagnosis will help to elucidate the present and future potential of mosquito-borne viruses as human pathogens in Europe

First report on human-biting Culex pipiens in Sweden

Culex mosquitoes are vectors of several bird-hosted arboviruses that cause outbreaks in Europe, such as Sindbis virus and West Nile virus. Recently, the human-biting form of Culex pipiens, Cx. pipiens biotype molestus, was found causing big nuisance in a housing cooperative in Gothenburg in southern Sweden, confirmed by molecular identification. This is the first report of human-biting Culex in Scandinavia, signalling increased risk of arbovirus infection in northern Europe

Diving beetle assemblages of flooded wetlands in relation to time, wetland type and Bti-based mosquito control

We investigated the abundance and taxonomic composition of the aquatic predatory insect fauna, with focus on adult diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), in eight temporary flooded wet meadows and two alder swamps in the River Dalälven floodplains, central Sweden from 2002 to 2006. Diving beetles are generalist predators and often abundant in various waters, including temporary wetlands. In the River Dalälven floodplains, recurrent floods induce massive hatching of flood-water mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), which constitute a superabundant patchy and irregular food resource for aquatic predatory insects. Our aims were (1) to characterize the assemblage of adult diving beetles occurring in the wetlands during floods in relation to time and wetland type and (2) to evaluate the effect on the aquatic predator assemblage of strongly reducing the abundance of a potential prey, flood-water mosquito larvae with Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) during floods. We found diving beetles to be the dominating aquatic predatory insect taxa in all 10 wetlands. There was a difference in Dytiscidae species richness but not in diversity between wet meadows and alder swamps after rarefaction. The cluster analysis based on dytiscid species and abundances showed very high similarities between the wetlands. The variance component analysis was unable to distinguish any factor that could explain more than 7.4% of the variation in the dytiscid species assemblages. The only effect of Bti-treatment against flood-water mosquito larvae, potential food for the predatory dytiscids, was a slight increase in abundance of the medium-sized dytiscid species. Our results are in accordance with previous studies, suggesting that irregular and recurrent flood dynamic structure the dytiscid fauna more than food limitations and environmental factors.The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com:Thomas Z. Persson Vinnersten, Jan O. Lundström, Erik Petersson and Jan Landin, Diving beetle assemblages of flooded wetlands in relation to time, wetland type and Bti-based mosquito control, 2009, Hydrobiologia, (635), 1, 189-203.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9911-9Copyright: Springer Science Business Mediahttp://www.springerlink.com