High technology helps Puerto Rico tackle dengue mosquito problem
The Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust is using mapping tech, traps and drones.
Puerto Rico is leveraging cutting-edge digital technology to tackle the dengue problem on the island.
The Puerto Rico Vector Control Unit (PRVCU), a program of the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust (PRSTRT), is using ArcGIS technology to locate, track and suppress dengue-carrying mosquitoes. This includes tools such as ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, Navigator for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Workforce, ArcGIS FieldMaps, and Survey123.
Through this platform, the PRVCU sets and monitors thousands of traps, collects and analyzes field data, tests mosquitoes for dengue’s genetic markers, and tracks them back to specific traps, enabling targeted elimination in those areas.
ArcGIS provides a dashboard showing dengue fever hotspots, including a map, charts and data tables showing the number of captured Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, weekly averages of Aedes females per trap, positive mosquito pools, and human case data. The dashboard allows users to filter data by trap status, trap type, intervention type, year, week and zone.
Puerto Rico’s mosquito suppression program consists of three main steps to find and exterminate infected mosquitoes: surveillance, autocidal gravid ovitraps (AGOs) and wide-area larvicide spray (WALS). AGOs are sticky, pesticide-free traps that attract and kill female mosquitoes that lay eggs to help control and monitor mosquito populations. WALS is an approach to larvae control that uses a naturally occurring bacterium to kill larvae in water sources.
Since 2018, PRVCU has installed 6,000 traps using ArcGIS technology.
“This extensive use of ArcGIS has significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of public health initiatives, leading to better control of mosquito populations and a reduction in the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases,” Alberto Millán, GIS manager at PRSTRT, told News is my Business.
“ArcGIS has significantly improved surveillance and intervention processes for mosquito control,” he said. “This streamlined process ensures accurate data collection and timely interventions, which are crucial for controlling mosquito populations and preventing disease.”
The technology helps improve reporting and compliance with public health regulations and provides valuable data to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, Millán noted.
ArcGIS Enterprise, for example, centralizes geospatial information in enterprise databases (SQL Azure database services), providing real-time monitoring and analysis and helping public health officials make informed decisions based on accurate data.
ArcGIS Survey123 enhances community outreach efforts by providing interactive tools and web applications to communicate with communities and state and federal agencies.
Using the ArcGIS platform the PRVCU has adapted the workflows and solutions implemented in Puerto Rico and applied them to international projects, such as those in El Salvador. This includes the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes (see below) and complementary surveillance, which are crucial for the control of mosquito-borne diseases worldwide, Millán said.
Having the ability to target the mosquitoes themselves, rather than pursue human cases reported weeks later, helps achieve these goals, the PRVCU reported.
“It’s important to emphasize that our response capacity relies on continuous measurement. Without accurate information on where and when cases occur, we couldn’t implement effective interventions,” Rafael Saavedra, PRVCU’s north project manager, told News is my Business.
“Our true strength lies in using technology to measure what we do, because as renowned public health expert Dr. Johnny Rullán said, ‘What isn’t measured isn’t achieved.’ This philosophy guides our work at the vector control unit and ensures that our actions have a tangible impact,” Saavedra said.
In 2024, Puerto Rico surpassed the epidemic threshold with a reported 6,291 dengue cases, prompting declaration of a local public health emergency. More than half of the patients (52.3%) were hospitalized, 264 (4.2%) had severe cases and 11 (0.2%) people died, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.
According to the CDC, 39,094 dengue cases were reported to the Puerto Rico Department of Health during 2010–2024. Major outbreaks occurred in 2010 (10,967 cases), 2012 (6,583) and 2013 (10,351), followed by an unusually low number of cases during 2016–2019 (365), likely associated with temporary cross-reactive protective immunity from the Zika virus outbreak in 2016.
In the ongoing battle against mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, other technological innovations are playing a role in enhancing control and prevention strategies.
Mobile applications, citizen science
Mobile apps are being used to help communities actively participate in mosquito surveillance. For example, after Costa Rica recorded some 50,000 dengue cases in 2013, it introduced a free app in 2014 that allows citizens to report breeding sites by uploading photos and location details. This crowdsourced data assists health authorities in pinpointing areas requiring intervention, optimizing the deployment of resources and improving pesticide application strategies.
Another app, Mosquito Alert, has become the world’s largest mosquito surveillance network. By sharing information, users help scientists research invasive mosquitoes and mosquitoes of epidemiological interest and provide data to improve their management.
IoT and TinyML
Systems like MosquIoT integrate Internet of Things (IoT) devices with machine learning to monitor Aedes aegypti populations. These smart traps autonomously detect and quantify mosquito eggs, providing real-time data that aids in understanding mosquito behavior and predicting potential outbreaks. The approach reportedly offers more comprehensive and accurate predictions of dengue outbreaks.
Using acoustic detection technology, machine learning is being used to automatically identify mosquito species by their wingbeat. Edge Impulse uses tiny machine learning (TinyML) to classify two species of mosquitoes: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (vectors of dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika virus). It is a low-power, low-cost scalable model that can run without human intervention in resource-constrained areas.
Drone technology
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are being used for surveillance, mapping of breeding sites and targeted release of biocontrol agents. Drones equipped with multispectral and thermal cameras help identify and map mosquito breeding habitats, such as stagnant water bodies and other potential breeding grounds, facilitating precise targeting of control measures.
Drones also are used to distribute larvicides over mosquito breeding sites, allowing for the precise application of control agents and minimizing environmental impact.
In addition, the World Mosquito Program has conducted trials using drones to release Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes over wide areas to establish this bacterium within wild mosquito populations and decrease disease transmission rates.
Additional digital technologies include robotics, which are used for automated spraying of mosquito repellents and for monitoring mosquito populations, and satellite images and other remote sensing technologies, which are employed to map areas of standing water and other factors that contribute to mosquito breeding.
Gene-editing technology
Genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes are being mass-engineered in labs to carry two genes: a self-limiting one that prevents female offspring from surviving to adulthood, and another fluorescent marker gene that glows under a special red light thus allowing researchers to identify GM mosquitoes in the wild.
GM mosquito eggs are released into an area. When the eggs hatch, they develop into adult mosquitoes that breed with wild females, passing the genes to offspring and reducing the number of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in targeted areas.
These mosquitoes have been successfully used in parts of Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama and India to control Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, according to the CDC. Since 2019, more than 1 billion GM mosquitoes have been released.
Wolbachia-based biological control
Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium found in many insect species but not in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The World Mosquito Program’s Wolbachia method introduces the bacterium into these mosquitoes to disrupt their ability to transmit viruses.
When male mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia mate with wild females, the resulting eggs do not hatch, leading to population suppression. Conversely, when Wolbachia-infected females reproduce, the bacterium spreads through the mosquito population, reducing disease transmission. This method has been implemented in various regions, including Brazil and Honduras, with promising results.
In 2023, Barbados-based Orbit Services Partners and San Francisco-based Verily announced a partnership to release lab-bred mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacterium across Caribbean nations, The Associated Press reported. As of press time, News Is my Business was unable to confirm if the program is already running.
