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. 2024:31:17.
doi: 10.1051/parasite/2024020. Epub 2024 Mar 26.

Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) field trial targeting the suppression of Aedes albopictus in Greece

Georgios Balatsos  1 , Vasileios Karras  1 , Arianna Puggioli  2 , Fabrizio Balestrino  3 , Romeo Bellini  2 , Dimitrios P Papachristos  1 , Panagiotis G Milonas  1 , Nikos T Papadopoulos  4 , Marco Malfacini  2 , Marco Carrieri  2 , Apostolos Kapranas  5 , Wadaka Mamai  3 , George Mastronikolos  4 , Ioanna Lytra  1 , Jérémy Bouyer  6 , Antonios Michaelakis  1
Affiliations

Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) field trial targeting the suppression of Aedes albopictus in Greece

Georgios Balatsos et al. Parasite. 2024.

Abstract
in English, French

The sterile insect technique (SIT) involves releasing large numbers of sterile males to outcompete wild males in mating with females, leading to a decline in pest populations. In the current study, we conducted a suppression trial in Greece against the invasive dengue vector mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse) through the weekly release of sterile males for 22 weeks from June to September 2019. Our approach included the long-distance transport of sterile mosquitoes, and their release at a density of 2,547 ± 159 sterile males per hectare per week as part of an area-wide integrated pest management strategy (AW-IPM). The repeated releases of sterile males resulted in a gradual reduction in egg density, reaching 78% from mid-June to early September. This reduction remained between 70% and 78% for four weeks after the end of the releases. Additionally, in the SIT intervention area, the ovitrap index, representing the percentage of traps containing eggs, remained lower throughout the trial than in the control area. This trial represents a significant advance in the field of mosquito control, as it explores the viability and efficacy of producing and transporting sterile males from a distant facility to the release area. Our results provide valuable insights for future SIT programmes targeting Ae. Albopictus, and the methodology we employed can serve as a starting point for developing more refined and effective release protocols, including the transportation of sterile males over long distances from production units to intervention areas.

Title: Essai sur le terrain de la Technique de l’Insecte Stérile (TIS) ciblant la suppression d’Aedes albopictus en Grèce.

Abstract: La technique de l’insecte stérile (TIS) consiste à libérer un grand nombre de mâles stériles pour supplanter les mâles sauvages lors de l’accouplement avec les femelles, entraînant ainsi un déclin des populations de nuisibles. Dans la présente étude, nous avons mené un essai de suppression en Grèce contre le moustique vecteur invasif de la dengue, Aedes albopictus (Skuse), par le biais de la libération hebdomadaire de mâles stériles pendant 22 semaines de juin à septembre 2019. Notre approche comprenait le transport sur de longues distances de moustiques stériles, et leur lâcher à une densité de 2 547 ± 159 mâles stériles par hectare et par semaine dans le cadre d’une stratégie de lutte intégrée contre les nuisibles à l’échelle de la zone (AW-IPM). Les lâchers répétés de mâles stériles ont entraîné une réduction progressive de la densité des œufs, atteignant 78 % de la mi-juin au début septembre. Cette réduction est restée entre 70 % et 78 % pendant quatre semaines après la fin des lâchers. De plus, dans la zone d’intervention de la TIS, l’indice d’oviposition, représentant le pourcentage de pièges contenant des œufs, est resté plus faible que dans la zone témoin tout au long de l’essai. Cet essai représente une avancée significative dans le domaine de la lutte contre les moustiques, car il explore la viabilité et l’efficacité de la production et du transport de mâles stériles depuis une installation éloignée vers la zone de lâcher. Nos résultats fournissent des informations précieuses pour les futurs programmes de TIS ciblant Ae. albopictus et la méthodologie que nous avons utilisée pourra servir de point de départ pour développer des protocoles de libération plus raffinés et plus efficaces, y compris le transport de mâles stériles sur de longues distances depuis les unités de production jusqu’aux zones d’intervention.

Keywords: Egg density; Egg hatching rates; Mosquito borne diseases; Public health; Sterile male insect transportation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographic position of the SIT plots and the respective control plots C1 and C2 (A) and distribution of releasing points within the SIT plot (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Temperature and Relative Humidity (RH) data at the SIT and control plots [SIT: 65.030 ± 0.185 RH and 23.414 ± 0.062 °C], [Control 1 (C1): 63.796 ± 0.178 RH and 23.315 ± 0.056 °C], [Control 2 (C2): 57.887 ± 0.205 RH and 25.175 ± 0.067 °C].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Hatching rates at SIT and control plots. The hatching rates of collected eggs (oviposition substrates) from 60 ovitraps were assessed weekly.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Seasonal patterns of induced sterility and egg reduction at the SIT plot as compared with the control area (right Y axis). The grey bars indicate the number of sterile males released per hectare (ha) per week from 03 May to 04 October (2019) at the SIT plot (left Y axis).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The seasonal trend of egg density (mean ± SE) collected at SIT and control plots C1 and C2.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Weekly distribution of oviposition positivity index (OPI) at the release (SIT) and control plots C1 and C2 from 03 May to 29 November (2019).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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