Surveillance and detection of invasive mosquito species in the United Kingdom

The UK employs a multi-faceted approach to surveillance for invasive Aedes species, including active methods, designed to target particular, potentially higher locations, and passive methods, providing a means for the general public and relevant professional groups to submit mosquito samples for identification. Mosquito surveillance is led by Public Health England’s (PHE) Medical Entomology and Zoonoses Ecology (MEZE) group, whose role is to provide advice to PHE and the Department of Health and other government advisory groups, on the risk to public health from vector borne disease. MEZE, and colleagues at Edge Hill University, work with environmental health and port health officers across the country to run mosquito traps to target the detection of potential introduction of invasive species. Surveillance is also conducted at motorway service stations;
key locations that target other potential routes by which invasive mosquitoes might enter the UK. Two species native to the UK, Culex pipiens and Anopheles maculipennis s.l., were found at seaports and airports, and two native species, Cx. pipiens s.l. and Culiseta annulata, were found at used tyre importers. Eggs of the invasive mosquito Aedes albopictus were found at a service station in the South-East of England and a control program was implemented. To enhance our ability to detect the introduction/presence of unusual species PHE works with the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health to promote passive surveillance; the Mosquito Watch and the Mosquito Recording Schemes. These are useful tools to develop better understanding of the presence and distribution of the potentially changing distribution of different mosquito species in the UK and an important
component of surveillance strategies for the early detection of invasive mosquito species.