Guess who’s coming home: insights into Aedes albopictus house-entering behaviour in Southern Europe
4 affiliations
- 1Vector-Borne Diseases Research Group (ZOOVEC), Department of Animal Production and Health, Public Veterinary Health and Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities
- 2Vector-Borne Diseases Research Group (ZOOVEC), Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities
- 3Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
- 4Athisa Medio Ambiente, Grupo SASTI
Abstract
Introduction: Aedes albopictus is an invasive species that has spread widely across Europe. In addition to being an irritating pest, it poses a significant public health threat due to its ability to transmit various arboviruses. Despite its biology and ecology having been extensively studied, quantitative evidence of its house-entering behaviour is lacking. We aimed to assess the degree of indoor housing occupancy through the first systematic monitoring of the indoor presence of Ae. albopictus in Europe.
Methods: Oviposition traps containing sticky cards were set up in the exterior and interior parts of eight houses in a residential area in eastern Spain. A structured questionnaire was administered to the residents to survey their perceptions of the presence of mosquitoes within their households.
Results: The traps mainly captured Ae. albopictus (96.7%), and a very limited number of Culex pipiens (3.7%). During the study period, 10.9% of Ae. albopictus females were found indoors. Temperatures were shown as the most important variable driving mosquito abundance based on a general additive mixed model (GAMM) and successive hierarchical partitioning. Annoyance was reported to be much higher outdoors than indoors.
Discussion: We demonstrated that Ae. albopictus consistently entered all sampled houses at a noticeable rate. The observed correlations between captures and seasonal temperature suggest a positive effect, indicating that global warming may increase mosquito indoor activity in the near future. Further research is needed to shed light on some knowledge gaps regarding the main drivers of house-entering behaviour of Ae. albopictus and its potential impact on public health.
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BibTeX
@article{alarconelbal2026guess,
title = {{Guess who’s coming home: insights into Aedes albopictus house-entering behaviour in Southern Europe}},
author = {Pedro María Alarcón-Elbal and Ignacio Gil-Torró and Marcos López-de-Felipe and María Altagracia Rodríguez-Sosa},
journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1843997},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1843997/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Guess who’s coming home: insights into Aedes albopictus house-entering behaviour in Southern Europe
AU - Pedro María Alarcón-Elbal
AU - Ignacio Gil-Torró
AU - Marcos López-de-Felipe
AU - María Altagracia Rodríguez-Sosa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1843997
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1843997/full
AB - Introduction: Aedes albopictus is an invasive species that has spread widely across Europe. In addition to being an irritating pest, it poses a significant public health threat due to its ability to transmit various arboviruses. Despite its biology and ecology having been extensively studied, quantitative evidence of its house-entering behaviour is lacking. We aimed to assess the degree of indoor housing occupancy through the first systematic monitoring of the indoor presence of Ae. albopictus in Europe. Methods: Oviposition traps containing sticky cards were set up in the exterior and interior parts of eight houses in a residential area in eastern Spain. A structured questionnaire was administered to the residents to survey their perceptions of the presence of mosquitoes within their households. Results: The traps mainly captured Ae. albopictus (96.7%), and a very limited number of Culex pipiens (3.7%). During the study period, 10.9% of Ae. albopictus females were found indoors. Temperatures were shown as the most important variable driving mosquito abundance based on a general additive mixed model (GAMM) and successive hierarchical partitioning. Annoyance was reported to be much higher outdoors than indoors. Discussion: We demonstrated that Ae. albopictus consistently entered all sampled houses at a noticeable rate. The observed correlations between captures and seasonal temperature suggest a positive effect, indicating that global warming may increase mosquito indoor activity in the near future. Further research is needed to shed light on some knowledge gaps regarding the main drivers of house-entering behaviour of Ae. albopictus and its potential impact on public health.
SN - 2296-2565
ER -