This groundbreaking mobile lab can assist health authorities in containing outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases

We at Nazka Mapps are very proud to be part of a consortium that is building the first-ever mobile bio-lab that can assist health authorities in containing diseases caused by mosquito bites (vector-borne diseases). What is groundbreaking, is that the consortium will bring together services that are powerful each on their own, but put together are disruptive in the field of vector-borne disease surveillance and control.

To start, we will make use of smart traps (with opto-electronic sensors) that can provide real-time information on mosquito populations, such as species, sex, age and infection status. Secondly, we will use the Mosquito Alert citizen-science platform where everyone can upload photos of mosquitoes and as such reinforce mosquito surveillance. By fusing the field data, clinical and diagnostic data of reference labs and earth observation data from Copernicus, we will be making epidemiological and risk maps of mosquito populations and disease transmission models in those populations. Finally, we will also make use of the know-how of existing vector surveillance and control programmes by incorporating outbreak-protocols. A mobile bio-lab will integrate all above capacities to be rapidly operational in the heart of outbreaks to assist first responders.

Image: Burden of mosquito borne diseases. Source: WHO

This technology will be the first line of defence against disease vectors worldwide, help prevent and fight devastating disease outbreaks, and will save lives while saving millions of euros in healthcare and lost working-hours. This has never been done before, and our consortium has the interdisciplinary research capacities to make it a reality: Irideon (Spain) develops the smart sensors; Avia-GIS (Belgium) specializes in risk analysis and disease transmission models; UCLouvain - CTMA (Belgium) is owner of the mobile lab that will be extended with this new capabilities; INSA (Portugal) coordinates mosquito surveillance in Portugal; CEAB (Spain) coordinates the citizen-science platform Mosquito Alert; ASPB (Spain) handles vector surveillance and control in Barcelona; and Nazka Mapps (Belgium) will develop the interactive mapping platform.

Mobile bio-lab to support first response in Arbovirus outbreaks (MOBVEC) is funded within a European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement № 101099283.