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10-Minute Presentation

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology

10-min: MUVE, Mosquito Physiology, Surveillance, and Control

Identification of the active invasion of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the rural Peruvian Amazon

Tuesday, November 12, 2024
4:00 PM – 4:12 PM MST
Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 222 A, PCC
Oral Presentation
Thousands of rural villages are scattered along the many rivers in the Peruvian Amazon. Until recently, these villages were considered low risk for dengue outbreaks, due to the assumed absence of its vector, Aedes aegypti. A decade ago, it was reported that Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were passively dispersed by boats to villages near the city of Iquitos. However, the distribution of Ae. aegypti in more remote communities was unknown. To determine the rural invasion status of Ae. aegypti in the Peruvian Amazon, we selected 30 sites across an urbanization spectrum. Household adult collections demonstrated that 29/30 sites were positive for Ae. aegypti. The riverine communities had a wide range of infestation levels, from 19.5% to 84.6% of houses positive for Ae. aegypti. Spatial infestation patterns were consistent in approximately half of the riverine villages; houses closer to river ports had a higher probability of Ae. aegypti infestation than houses further from the port. This pattern suggests that new invasions often occur in the adult stage, whereby adult Ae. aegypti fly off boats docked at port, infest nearby houses, then disperse inland. In one community, we monitored the distribution of Ae. aegypti for a year, during which household infestation advanced over 300m inland. Additional sampling in the most remote region of the transect, along the Puinahua River, showed limitations to Ae. aegypti invasion; the mosquito was only present in 6/31 sites. These observations demonstrate the ongoing public health threat of the active Ae. aegypti rural invasion in the Peruvian Amazon.