Project description
Using satellites to bite back West Nile virus
Keeping track of mosquitoes is essential to prevent vector-borne diseases, which are emerging infectious diseases. For instance, Europe experienced a growing threat of the West Nile virus infection in the summer of 2018 – the spike was due to high temperatures followed by wet weather – conditions that make mosquitos most likely to bite. To effectively control disease-vectors, the EU-funded VECTRACK project will develop remote sensing and spatial modelling techniques to create special maps to assist with risk surveillance and assessments. To deliver the first transnational and automated vector surveillance system, the project will use the Earth Observation Satellite Sentinel service, as well as ground nodes with optoelectronic sensors for the remote and automated counting and classification of mosquitoes.
Objective
During the summer of 2018, the EU experienced the worst outbreak of West Nile Virus (WNV) in history, with more than 1317 infected and 142 deaths reported. WNV can cause a fatal neurological disease in humans, for which there is no known therapy or vaccine. WNV is just one of the many Vector-Borne Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes (Dengue, Zika, Yellow Fever, Malaria, etc.) threatening Europe due to climate change. VECTRACK addresses this major problem through early detection and prevention of disease outbreaks, the key pillars in preventive control strategy.
Obtaining high quality field information is notoriously costly and time-consuming. To effectively control these disease-vectors, specialized public and private bodies implement laborious and costly surveillance programs, where manual field trap inspections represent 95% of total costs. These costs can be significantly reduced through combining cost-efficient sampling strategies, remote sensing and spatial modelling techniques resulting in risk maps for targeted surveillance and risk assessments.
VECTRACK will provide the first transnational and automated vector surveillance system, a long sought objective of the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). This will be achieved through the development of an Earth Observation (EO) Satellite Sentinel service, including ground nodes with new optoelectronic sensors allowing fully remote and automated counting and classification of the target mosquitoes (sex, species, age and infection potential). VECTRACK will be commercialized as a service to the market segments already serviced by the industry partners, and new international clients. This will be achieved through the development of an innovative business plan, an extensive market demonstration and the implementation of a knowledge management and protection strategy for the exploitation of the technology in Europe and other international markets.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA viruses
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirology
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringremote sensing
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyinvertebrate zoology
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
08029 Barcelona
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.