245 - Incorporating In2Care® Mosquito Trap into IPM toolbox to control invasive Aedes mosquitoes: Lessons from the West Valley region of the San Bernardino County

Abstract: Aedes aegypti is the predominant mosquito species that could potentially transmit dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika viruses. Due to the widespread distribution of invasive Aedes mosquitoes in recent years across California, the risk of Aedes-borne diseases has become a public health threat. Currently available Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies have not been effective to control these mosquitoes because of their cryptic breeding habitats. Thus, there is a crucial need for innovative control measures to be added in to the existing IPM toolkit to deal with these urban mosquitoes. At the West Valley region of the San Bernardino County, In2Care® Mosquito Trap have been used as part of our IPM to control Aedes mosquito population since 2019. Here we report summary of field data to determine effectiveness of these traps to control invasive Aedes populations. First, exploratory trapping was conducted across our District by setting BG Sentinel traps in over 200 houses. Then, based on Aedes mosquito counts, a total of 24 high count sites were recruited across the District for this study. In2Care® Mosquito Traps were placed at these sites at the beginning of the mosquito season and kept until the season abated. Every month BG Sentinel traps were set to monitor the Aedes population at these sites. To serve as controls, BG Sentinel traps were also set in neighboring houses within ¼ mile from the sites with In2Care® traps. Trapping continued from 2021 to 2022. The results indicated that there was significant reduction in Aedes aegypti mosquito population that ranged from 67.5% to 90.3% compared to sites without the In2Care® traps. Overall, our findings implicate that incorporating In2Care®Mosquito Traps into our existing IPM toolkits is beneficial to control invasive Aedes mosquitoes in California.