In December 2024, Elisa Mora and Alex Richter-Boix (CEAB-CSIC), members of the E4Warning consortium, participated as invited speakers at the EMCA workshop “Dialogue with Wings: Communicating Mosquito Science Effectively”, held at the SUPSI Campus in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The event brought together experts and practitioners from 14 countries to explore innovative ways to communicate mosquito science and mosquito-borne diseases.

Elisa and Alex shared their experiences with the citizen science initiative Mosquito Alert, emphasizing how it has effectively communicated complex topics like mosquito ecology and vector-borne diseases to the public and stakeholders. Elisa Mora also participated in a plenary roundtable moderated by David T. Dyjack (National Environmental Health Association) and joined by Ljubica Latinovic (World Health Organization), Andrea Delucchi (Institute of Design SUPSI), and journalist Julian Michaels (Radiotelevisione Svizzera).

During the second day, they led one of the hands-on workshops focused on communication strategies. The session was part of a broader program attended by 77 participants, which explored six key themes over three days:

• Risk Communication
• Visual Communication
• Community Engagement
• Stakeholder Communication
• Media Relations
• Funding for Communication

Through interactive activities and real-world scenarios, participants gained practical tools to adapt their messaging to diverse audiences, foster partnerships, and counter misinformation.

Exploring Sterile Insect Technology (SIT) Communication

The workshop concluded with an EMCA side-event dedicated to communication strategies for the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), a groundbreaking method to control Aedes mosquito populations by releasing sterilized insects. Case studies highlighted SIT initiatives in regions such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, French Polynesia, La Réunion, Tunisia, Florida (USA), and parts of Africa. Charles m’Bogo (PAMCA) shared insights from the African context.

Discussions focused on the challenges of engaging stakeholders and citizens in SIT programs and the difficulties encountered in communicating these innovative technologies. The participants explored the possibility of collaborating on a unified document of best practices for SIT communication, paving the way for more effective and globally consistent outreach efforts.

The workshop not only strengthened the knowledge and tools available for mosquito-related communication but also reinforced the importance of collaboration across sectors and countries in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases.

Find all the details of the agenda here: https://www.emca-online.eu/assets/PDFs/2024_Switzerland/2024_TDR_SIT_FINAL_AGENDA.pdf

In a recent study conducted in Brazil by researchers from the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, the E4Warning project successfully deployed smart traps with the VECTRACK sensor developed by IRIDEON, to improve mosquito surveillance in urban settings. These smart traps, equipped with AI and IoT technologies, have been tested in two Brazilian cities—Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia—where they demonstrated high accuracy in identifying mosquito species such as Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus, both key vectors for diseases like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya.

Over a year of field testing, the traps showed a remarkable 99.8% accuracy in distinguishing target mosquito species from other insects and a 93.7% accuracy in differentiating between the two genera of mosquitoes. The smart traps collected data on 9,151 insect flights, of which 1,383 were mosquito vectors.

These findings indicate the potential of the E4Warning tool to provide real-time monitoring and classification of mosquitoes in areas with high vector-borne disease risks: by the end of September 2024, over 9.5 million dengue cases had been reported in Brazil. In this context, the data gathered from the smart traps could be instrumental in aiding public health authorities to make timely interventions, such as targeted vector control measures, enhancing the preparedness and response to mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.  The successful implementation of the IRIDEON smart traps in Brazil showcases how cutting-edge technologies can revolutionize mosquito surveillance, making it faster, more accurate, and less reliant on manual labor.

The paper has been published in the Parasite & Vector journal: Njaime, F.C.B.F.P., Máspero, R.C., Leandro, A.d., Maciel-de-Freitas, R. Automated classification of mixed populations of Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes under field conditions. Parasites Vectors 17, 399 (2024).

It can be consulted at the following link: https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-024-06417-z

It can also be founded in the E4Warning Zenodo community: https://zenodo.org/records/13868673