AVID- An Automated Vector Identification Detector for Rural Communities

Active surveillance and timely mosquito control measures offer the best hope for disease management and control in the future. Emergence of vector borne diseases, and recent outbreaks, suggest a high probability of future epidemics caused by previously unknown pathogens or new manifestations of known agents. The West Nile Virus outbreak in North America demonstrates how a known pathogen can suddenly appear on the other side of the world, and how rapidly a pathogen can expand geographically and persist in newly established zoonoses. Prevention rests on elimination of mosquito breeding sites; judicious use of insecticides; and avoidance of mosquito bites, including use of mosquito repellents. IPM Development Company is developing an Automated Vector Insect Detector (AVID), an innovative novel technology that will successfully address the difficulty of providing accurate real-time vector activity data to small rural communities lacking public infrastructure. Phase I research will produce a labor-saving automated insect pest-monitoring system using a newly available electronic photo-sensor and computer-analysis software that quantifies mosquito wing-beat signatures.