D3104: Mosquito and mosquito-borne disease surveillance in South Texas, 2020-2021

Mosquito surveillance is an essential way to monitor mosquito borne diseases. In 2017, we initiated an ongoing project focusing on mosquito surveillance in the lower Rio Grande Valley, a potential hotspot for mosquito-borne diseases. For the past four years we have partnered with local health departments for the collection of mosquitoes in the Rio Grande Valley. To date 13,736 mosquitoes have been collected and identified. Mosquito vectors undergo a real time PCR assay to test for vector borne diseases such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and West Nile virus. A total of 7,815 mosquitoes including Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex species have been tested. To date, all mosquitoes have tested negative. However, it is critical to continue surveillance for early detection of mosquito borne diseases, and to monitor mosquito populations and study distribution patterns for vector species. Several mosquito population and distributions patterns have been established through years of collection and identification in the Rio Grande Valley. Mosquito vector species, Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasctiatus, are the most prevalent collected female mosquito species. Cx. quinquefasciatus made up 58% of the collected female mosquito species, and Ae. aegypti accounted for 17% of the collected female species. Through our collection data, we discovered that mosquito vector species were present throughout the year including winter months. Plans for the project include the expansion of Culex species testing to include a triplex RT PCR assay for the detection of West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus, and western equine encephalomyelitis virus.