MosquitoWeb “has as its first objective the early detection of the presence of invasive species that have medical importance in different regions where they have not been detected”, Carla Sousa, associate professor at the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT), told Lusa.

In practice, according to the expert, this IMHT project invites citizens to take a photo of the mosquito and send it through the specific MosquitoWeb.pt platform, indicating the region and environment where the specimen was found.

Furthermore, the “citizen science” project allows a captured mosquito to be sent to the IHMT, and the citizen is then informed whether this specimen is of a species with an impact on public health.

“If it is an invasive species, in a location where it has never been detected, we pass this information to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS)”, explained Carla Sousa, highlighting that it was through this project that it was possible to detect the presence of the tiger mosquito in Lisbon, in October 2023.

At that time, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) confirmed the presence of the species in Lisbon, but highlighted that, in Portugal, “no disease agents that can be transmitted to people have been identified in these mosquitoes, nor have there been any cases of human disease.”

MosquitoWeb is particularly attentive to two species that transmit diseases such as dengue or yellow fever, the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti).

“Until the summer of 2017, we did not have Aedes albopictus. In 2017, two outbreaks of introduction were recorded. At the moment, the mosquito is already found in several municipalities in the Algarve, has already spread to municipalities in the Alentejo and has already arrived in Lisbon”, explained the IHMT specialist.

She also added that the dispersion of these invasive species, mainly the way they arrive in a new region and are able to establish themselves, derives from the fact that they are very adapted to the humanized environment.

Carla Sousa also highlighted that vector-transmitted diseases are at stake, which means that the mode of transmission between an infected person and a person susceptible to infection is through the bite of a mosquito and not directly from human to human.

Since the dengue outbreak on the island of Madeira in 2012, which resulted in around two thousand cases, “no autochthonous cases have been recorded” in Portugal, Carla Sousa also highlighted, highlighting that “not the entire Portuguese territory has the presence of a vector species”, with “areas where the density of these invasive mosquitoes is higher than in others”.