Effects of mosquito-proofing storm drains on adult and larval mosquito abundance: Protocol of the IDAlErt storm drAin randomiSed controlled trial (IDEAS)
<i>Aedes</i> and <i>Culex</i> mosquitoes, known for spreading arboviruses like dengue and West Nile, thrive in cities, posing health risks to urban populations. Climate change can create suitable climatic conditions for these vectors to spread further in Europe. Cities contain numerous landscape and infrastructure elements, such as storm drains, that allow stagnant water build-up facilitating mosquito breeding. Modifying urban infrastructure to prevent water accumulation can reduce mosquito populations, but evidence is limited. The Public Health Agency of Barcelona, Spain, introduced a structural modification of storm drains to prevent water accumulation. Together with the Agency, we designed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to experimentally assess the effectiveness of these modifications on adult <i>Aedes albopictus</i> and <i>Culex pipiens</i> populations. It is a parallel-arm RCT with equal randomization of 44 drains to receive mosquito-proofing modifications (intervention) or not (control). Primary outcomes are adult mosquito counts and secondary outcomes are larvae and mosquito presence, assessed weekly at each drain until no mosquitoes are detected. Data analyses include generalised linear mixed models to estimate the time-averaged and highest intervention effects, subgroup and sensitivity analyses. The trial results will guide a city-wide expansion of the storm drain modifications and provide valuable evidence to enhance existing vector control measures.
Authors
- Aditi Bunker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5906-156X)
- Till Bärnighausen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4182-4212)
- João Encarnação (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2105-6639)
- Rachel Lowe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-7343)
- Jan C. Semenza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4625-874X)
- Marina Treskova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3641-7225)
- Frederic Bartumeus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6908-3797)
- Pascale Stiles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6431-2519)
- Charles Hatfield (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0421-1887)
- John R.B. Palmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2648-7860)
- Andrea Valsecchi
- Tomás Montalvo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9060-3205)
- Shouro Dasgupta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4080-8066)
- Joacim Rocklöv (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-0449)
- Jordi Noya
Institutions
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (ES)
- Hospital de Sant Pau (ES)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (ES)
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (ES)
- CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (IT)
- Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya (ES)
- Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES)
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (ES)
- Heidelberg University (US)
- Umeå University (SE)
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- MethodsX
- Published
- 2024-12-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2024.103102
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.54
Funders
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme