New smart surveillance system to control mosquito-borne diseases

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) Amid a severe outbreak of chikungunya, a team of scientists in China has achieved a breakthrough in preventing mosquito-borne diseases by developing an intelligent vector mosquito surveillance system that offers scientific guidance for disease control.

Developed by a team led by Chen Xiaoguang, a professor at Southern Medical University, this monitoring technology has been deployed across multiple communities in south China's Guangdong Province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Accurate surveillance proves vital since diseases like chikungunya primarily spread through Aedes mosquito bites.

However, traditional methods for monitoring mosquitoes face limitations.

"Mosquito traps and mosquito nets only monitor non-blood-fed mosquitoes, while mosquito oviposition traps target blood-fed egg-laying mosquitoes," Chen explained.

"Our innovation employs coordinated dual-device operation for real-time, high-efficiency monitoring," Chen said.

Automated monitors use human-mimicking attractants to capture non-blood-fed mosquitoes, while smart oviposition buckets utilise container-type miniature water pools to monitor blood-fed gravid Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, achieving four times the efficiency of conventional oviposition traps, he added.

Field tests demonstrated remarkable effectiveness. During its first operational week, the system issued timely alerts for abnormal mosquito density surges across multiple zones and generated targeted intervention protocols.

"Manual mosquito trapping caused data delays. Now, real-time cloud-based alerts have substantially accelerated grassroots disinfection responses," Chen said.

After deployment, surveillance showed nearly a 40 percent decrease in adult mosquito captures within key areas.

Currently implemented across multiple sites in Guangdong's Foshan City, this technology represents a significant advancement. "Our team is striving to accelerate mosquito-borne disease prevention through technological innovation," Chen said.

Similarly, researchers at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University have also developed Hong Kong’s first live GeoAI (Geospatial Artificial Intelligence) platform for mosquito-borne disease control, which integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) to provide actual and predictive mosquito risk analyses.

The platform is now operational at Kwun Lung Lau in Kennedy Town, and there are plans to extend it to eight mosquito monitoring points.

It gives frontline property management staff current data to improve mosquito control operations and reduce the risks of mosquito-borne diseases such as chikungunya and dengue fever.

--IANS

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