Mosquito surveillance
Snapshot mosquito surveillance 2025
About the project
Understanding the distribution of mosquitoes is an integral part of investigating the potential for mosquito borne diseases, including those that can affect humans and wildlife such as birds. The Medical Entomology and Zoonoses Ecology (MEZE) team at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are developing mosquito surveillance across England.
MEZE are also part of the Vector-Borne RADAR project with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and the Institute of Zoology (IoZ), which aims to further understand the occurrence of mosquito-borne viruses.
Project aims
Volunteers are needed to run a mosquito trap at wetland habitats such at bogs, fens, marshes, wet woodland, reedbeds, saltmarshes and floodplains.
A map of England has been divided into a grid of 50km by 50km squares. The aim is to operate mosquito traps in every grid square. We hope this will help us gather data to further understand the future risks arboviruses (viruses transmitted by arthropods like mosquitos) may have to humans and other animals.
Snapshot mosquito surveillance 2024
Results
Last year, volunteers across the country ran BG Ppro mosquito traps during 2 collection windows, one in August and another in September. The traps were run for 3-night “Snapshot” trapping sessions. A map of England has been divided into a grid of 82 50km by 50km squares. 71 traps were run representing 71 grid squares across England.
Traps were run in a variety of habitats including bogs, marshes, reedbeds, floodplains, lakes, and reservoirs. The project collected 961 mosquitoes (903 females and 58 males), many in locations that had not been surveyed for mosquitoes before.
Mosquito species caught by snapshot volunteers in 2024. 526 female mosquitoes were caught in August, and 377 were caught in September.
The majority of samples were from mosquitoes associated with wetlands and known for their preference for feeding on birds, including Culiseta morsitans and Culex pipiens s.l. Snapshot 2024 also generated a large collection of samples that will be used to analyse arboviruses and learn how they circulate. The project provided evidence that Usutu virus is more widespread than previously confirmed. Running the programme again in 2025 will help investigate this further.