Egg data validation in quantitative monitoring of Aedes albopictus in Emilia-Romagna region, Italy.

The monitoring of Aedes urban species is usually conducted by ovitraps, which can provide a good estimate of population density at low cost and relatively easy management. When the monitoring network is managed by many operators, as in the case of the Emilia-Romagna regional plan, it becomes necessary to develop a quality control methodology capable of highlighting the possible data incoherency and ensuring that the monitoring system provides reliable data.This paper presents the procedure applied in the egg counting phase as developed in Emilia-Romagna in order to check the data quality and validate the data before being included in the database.Several steps have been identified and protocols developed to serve quality control such as training of technicians and intralaboratory quality check, daily random double counting of Masonite paddles and interlaboratory periodic comparison.The qualitative test showed that all operators were able to distinguish Aedes albopictus eggs from other mosquito species eggs. The quantitative test showed significant differences between the 11 operators, with a relative error resulting in the range of 0.1-25.8%.The daily internal double counting of randomly extracted Masonite slides was performed by the coordinator showing a relative error in the range 2.47-2.63% without statistical differences, confirming a good alignment of the operators with the coordinator throughout the monitoring period.The interlaboratory comparison trial produced an average relative error of 7.20% showing a sufficient alignment between the three laboratories.Moreover a new time-saving methods in egg counting was developed and tested in real condition.

Quality control and data validation procedure in large-scale quantitative monitoring of mosquito density: the case of Aedes albopictus in Emilia-Romagna region, Italy.

The risk of local transmission of chikungunya, dengue, and Zika viruses from viremic travelers arriving from affected areas is a real possibility in southern Europe, due to the large presence of the vector Aedes albopictus. The first chikungunya outbreak in Europe occurred in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy, in 2007, prompting the regional public health department to implement an Ae. albopictus monitoring and control plan. This paper presents the procedure developed for the quality control of the data collected by the regional ovitrap monitoring network. The quality control procedure consists of four successive steps; the first step is data acquisition and the second is an automatic data processing step, while skilled technicians according to specific procedures perform the third and fourth steps by checking the exact position of the ovitraps and by conducting human landing collections, respectively. The paper also presents the results of this quality control procedure applied to the data collected through the large-scale Ae. albopictus monitoring operation performed in Emilia-Romagna in 2015.