The Vecmap initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) has the mosquito Ochlerotatus Japonicus in its sights. This species, capable of transmitting diseases such as dengue fever or chikungunya or West Nile fevers, was first detected in Belgium in 2002. That is why Vecmap is testing techniques to accurately determine its distribution in Europe using space technology.
Vecmap provides a platform that simplifies the analysis of mosquito distribution, identifying critical habitats from data collected in the field and generating hazard maps that address the needs of a wide variety of users. This initiative combines data on vegetation type, temperature and soil moisture that inspectors measure in the field with information collected by Earth observation satellites . The first country to implement it will be Belgium, and the study of the distribution of this mosquito will continue until the end of the summer, and could be resumed in March 2013.
The project is key. Mosquito- and tick-borne diseases are becoming a public health problem in Europe, as it is very difficult to predict where they will break out or how they will spread. Mosquito larvae hatching conditions, place and time vary greatly between species.
