PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Samuel S.C. Rund
AU  - Micaela Elvira Martinez
TI  - Rescuing Hidden Ecological Data to Tackle Emerging Mosquito-Borne Diseases
AID  - 10.1101/096875
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 096875
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/09/096875.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/09/096875.full
AB  - Worldwide, mosquito transmitted infectious diseases result in approximately 679,000 deaths annually. In the Americas, mosquitoes transmit Yellow Fever, malaria, West Nile virus, Dengue virus, Chikungunya virus, and most recently Zika virus. Municipalities throughout the US have independently created mosquito control agencies which aim to limit mosquito populations and carefully monitor mosquito abundance. Here we reveal > 1000 mosquito control agencies in the US and demonstrate that collectively, their high spatiotemporal resolution—historical and real-time—data comprise the richest long-term ecological surveillance of any animal taxon. These agencies are geographically dispersed and house an enormous trove of data: weekly/monthly snapshots of mosquito abundance for up to eight genera simultaneously. Unfortunately, much of these data are hidden among many independent data silos. Here we propose a simple low-cost policy solution: the creation of a nationally-coordinated open-access database to collate mosquito data. The proposed database would, for the first time, provide scientific and public health communities with readily accessible data on arboviral disease vectors. This would empower new interventions and insights by leveraging pre-existing human efforts and operational infrastructure already being paid-for by taxpayers.