ZanzaMapp: A Scalable Citizen Science Tool to Monitor Perception of Mosquito Abundance and Nuisance in Italy and Beyond

Beniamino Caputo, Mattia Manica, Federico Filipponi, Marta Blangiardo, Pietro Cobre, Luca Delucchi, Carlo Maria De Marco, Luca Iesu, Paola Morano, Valeria Petrella, Marco Salvemini, Cesare Bianchi and Alessandra della Torre
Additional contact information
Beniamino Caputo: Department of Public Health & Infectious Diseases, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia—Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Mattia Manica: Department of Public Health & Infectious Diseases, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia—Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Federico Filipponi: Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), via Vitaliano Brancati 48, 00144 Roma, Italy
Marta Blangiardo: MRC Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London W2 1PG, UK
Pietro Cobre: Department of Public Health & Infectious Diseases, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia—Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Luca Delucchi: Department of Biodiversity and Molecular Ecology, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, 38010 San Michele all’Adige, Italy
Carlo Maria De Marco: Department of Public Health & Infectious Diseases, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia—Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Luca Iesu: Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy
Paola Morano: GH s.r.l., via Petralia Sottana, 11, 00132 Rome, Italy
Valeria Petrella: Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy
Marco Salvemini: Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy
Cesare Bianchi: GH s.r.l., via Petralia Sottana, 11, 00132 Rome, Italy
Alessandra della Torre: Department of Public Health & Infectious Diseases, Laboratory affiliated to Istituto Pasteur Italia—Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: Mosquitoes represent a considerable nuisance and are actual/potential vectors of human diseases in Europe. Costly and labour-intensive entomological monitoring is needed to correct planning of interventions aimed at reducing nuisance and the risk of pathogen transmission. The widespread availability of mobile phones and of massive Internet connections opens the way to the contribution of citizen in complementing entomological monitoring. ZanzaMapp is the first mobile “mosquito” application for smartphones specifically designed to assess citizens’ perception of mosquito abundance and nuisance in Italy. Differently from other applications targeting mosquitoes, ZanzaMapp prioritizes the number of records over their scientific authentication by requesting users to answer four simple questions on perceived mosquito presence/abundance/nuisance and geo-localizing the records. The paper analyses 36,867 ZanzaMapp records sent by 13,669 devices from 2016 to 2018 and discusses the results with reference to either citizens’ exploitation and appreciation of the app and to the consistency of the results obtained with the known biology of main mosquito species in Italy. In addition, we provide a first small-scale validation of ZanzaMapp data as predictors of Aedes albopictus biting females and examples of spatial analyses and maps which could be exploited by public institutions and administrations involved in mosquito and mosquito-borne pathogen monitoring and control.

Keywords: citizen science; mosquito; nuisance; biting activity; tiger mosquito; Aedes albopictus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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