Italy's Mosquito Tracking System Sets New Standard

The spread of invasive mosquito species, such as the tiger mosquito, poses global health risks due to their potential to carry diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, malaria, and Zika.

An innovative use case in Italy connected the operational mosquito monitoring agency with OEMC tools and data to address the expanding health risk posed by climate change.

The Mosquito Alert System leverages continuous capillary point observations from the regional administration and different state-of-the-art machine-learning techniques to provide data-driven insights for mosquito population control.

This system provides two open-source model applications whose outputs support and integrate Emilia-Romagna region (RER) efforts to manage and control Ae. albopictus populations. Data on mosquito occurrence has been collected daily since 2017 (755 overlaps in 10 main cities). 

The project includes spatial analysis and modeling training in open-source environments to support decision-making and enhance the region’s control strategies.

When using this system, public health agencies, regional environmental departments, and communities will benefit from improved identification of where mosquito eggs are at risk.

In the United States, this system could help identify dengue-carrying mosquitos in Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where dengue vaccines are unavailable in 2025.