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. 2022 Mar 15;17(3):e0264300.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264300. eCollection 2022.

The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in Kosovo: First record

Nesade Muja-Bajraktari  1 , Përparim Kadriaj  2 , Ferdije Zhushi-Etemi  1 , Kurtesh Sherifi  3 , Bulent Alten  4 , Dusan Petrić  5 , Enkelejda Velo  2 , Francis Schaffner  6
Affiliations

The Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) in Kosovo: First record

Nesade Muja-Bajraktari et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is an invasive mosquito species that is considered a potential vector of about 22 arboviruses, among which dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Here we report the first record of Aedes albopictus in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo. The first finding, in July 2020, was driven by a photo of an adult mosquito published by a citizen in social media. The subsequent field investigation in July 2020 confirmed the presence of adult mosquitoes by human landing catch and collection of eggs in ovitraps at the village Zhur. Monitoring was performed for 7 weeks with ovitraps and BG-Sentinel adult traps at 36 sampling stations from 7 localities, in the Southern part of Kosovo, on the border with Albania. Fifty-two out of 81 ovitrap samples resulted positive for the presence of Ae. albopictus. A total of 2,711 eggs are collected in 22 out 36 stations and a total of 78 adults from 4 out 4 stations with BG Sentinel trap and 15 adults with handled electric aspirator. Our finding shows that the tiger mosquito is expanding its geographical range in the Balkans, southeastern Europe.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Examples of traps operating at several mosquito collection sites.
Ovitraps in: a Vlashnje (Tyrecentres); b Zhur st.1 (Privat residence garden); c Prizren (Privat residence garden); d Vërmicë (Restaurant veranda); e Odour-baited adult traps (BG-Sentinel) Vermice (Restaurant garden); f Zhur st.1 (Resident garden); g Prizren (Resident garden). Catching with aspirator: h Vlashnje (Tyrecentres). Adults resting in: i Prizren (on the human body); j Zhur (Plastic bottle); k Vlashnje (Inside the tire, resting on the surface water); l Zhur st.1 (first specimen of Aedes albopictus caught while landing on human body).
Fig 2
Fig 2. First specimen of Aedes albopictus caught in Zhur st.1, date 23.07.2020 (photo: N. Muja-Bajraktari).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Distribution map of the ovitraps in Prizreni region showing positive and negative site for the presence of Aedes albopictus.
The general administrative maps were extracted from the Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com/) and then modified subsequently according to the information presented in the map, using Q-GIS version 3.18.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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