Control
When we talk about mosquito control we are also referring to other fundamental aspects that are part of it and thus it is necessary that we explain three fundamental concepts to control and avoid the diseases that they can transmit to us:
Mosquito Control
The MCS articulates all its effectiveness in a rational use of the integrated control methodology. As we have mentioned in the Introduction, the fundamental pillars on which our actions are based are biological, physical and prevention or educational control and it is within this framework that our Service is structured.
Most of the annoyances caused by mosquitoes in our region are caused by the action of the species Culex pipiens, common mosquito, very abundant in urban centers and agricultural areas and Aedes albopictus, Asian tiger mosquito.Other species belonging to the Aedes genus can occasionally cause situations of serious annoyance, such as in the case of el Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans or Begues.
The elimination of mosquitoes in their own breeding sites, that is, in the larval phase, is the most appropriate and harmless strategy for the environment to control mosquitoes. These actions are unspectacular, but very efficient; In return, they require exhaustive knowledge of the environment and possible breeding sites, as well as constant inspection. The basic instrument of the MCS is an online management platform, called Delta, which lists all the coded breeding sites that include all types of water points, permanent or not, urban (scuppers, gutters, septic tanks, drainage grates...) or rural (ditches, marshes and natural floodded areas).
Sampling larvae. MCS files
All these points are visited weekly by MCS inspectors 
,whose reports give rise to the corresponding actions by the treatment team or, in the case of the thousands of scuppers, are treated directly following an established schedule. It must be taken into account that in summer, mosquitoes can complete their larval cycle in less than a week.
Most of the actions carried out by the Service consist of larvicidal applications with biological biocides.
As a check on the effectiveness of the control measures, data are obtained from the entire region with the use of mosquito traps with carbon dioxide attractant. These devices simulate the metabolic activity of the animals and capture the insects for an entire day. When in 1982 none of the control measures were yet established, the captures made gave values of more than 100 bites per 15 minutes. Currently, captures almost never reach more than 10 mosquitoes per trap.
Biological control
Bti formulations. MCS filesWhere biological control has achieved the most success has undoubtedly been 
in the use of bacteria-based larvicides. Currently in our MCS there are two bacterial principles used as larvicides on a massive scale:
- Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis
- Lysinibacillus sphaericus
These insecticides base their toxicity on the proteins that these bacteria accumulate. They are very specific and have enormously low toxicity towards other organisms.
Phisical control
Physical control largely involves improving water quality in the Baix Llobregat. The existing treatment plants have allowed a notable change in the breeding centers. Phisical arrangement. MCS files
While this type of actions escape the MCS, others such as the application of inert materials in flooded cellars or actions in natural areas to allow the entry of predators, are applied by the Service.
Prevention and education
Finally, dissemination campaigns through the media, publication of information brochures and education of the population at school are an invaluable tool in the fight against urban mosquitoes. The objective is that the inhabitants are aware of the problem that mosquitoes cause and that they can follow the specified control recommendations such as those found on this website in the Recommendations chapter.
Some public recomendations guidesHealth Day. MCS files
Canal Salut Gencat tiger mosquito
Service Structure
The Service is made up of the following team of personnel:
- A biologist in management and research tasks
- An administration technique
- Six inspectors in charge of various technical aspects and inspection of breeding sites
- A treatment manager
- Two applicators/foremen
- A team of six temporary inspectors
- A team of nine temporary biocide applicators
The Service's mobile fleet is made up of:SCM fleet
- Four all-terrain tanker vehicles for treatments
- Five all-terrain tanker vehicles for treatments and prospecting
- Five vehicles for treatments and prospecting
- Two vans for urban treatments
- A Quad or ATV for treatments and prospectings
These vehicles are adapted to facilitate treatments, mainly larvicides, carried out with backpacks, vehicle-mounted compressors, foggers and ULV devices. Some of them, like the Quad, are adapted for larvicidal treatments in areas that are difficult to access. A good part are already hybrid or electric.
TheMCS is located at Can Comas, in El Prat de Llobregat, a farmhouse owned by the Baix Llobregat Council. The facilities have offices, laboratory, insectarium, workshop, changing rooms, parking and garage. There are also ponds for breeding "fartets", a native predatory fish that is almost extinct in the Baix Llobregat.
Other public MCS
Since 1982 there are some public MCS, here are the links:
Mancomunitat de Control de Mosquits de la Badia de Roses i Baix Ter
Consorci de Polítiques Ambientals de les Terres de l'Ebre (COPATE)
Servicio de Control de Mosquitos de la Diputación de Huelva
Surveillance
Mosquito trap. MCS filesThe MCS carries out a set of actions aimed at evaluating
mosquito populations as well as their variations. In this way, it carries out surveillance tasks, among which we highlight the surveillance of larval and adult populations. In the first, samples are routinely taken from known breeding points and in the second, data are obtained with the use of different traps such as the EVS traps that use carbon dioxide (CO2) as an attractant or the BG Sentinel traps with chemical and visual attractants. These devices simulate the activity of animals and capture the females that are attracted. This surveillance is carried out at the breeding points and areas described in the Introduction.
It also participates with different organizations to carry out more specific surveillance campaigns and this is how it has participated with the CSIC, with the Ministry of Health and currently with the Generalitat of Catalonia with the Department of Health and the Department of Climate Action in surveillance of disease-transmitting mosquitoes.
Mosquito-borne diseases
The health implications of mosquitoes and therefore their control have become a particularly notable aspect due to some outbreaks in Europe of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, specifically dengue, chikungunya, Zika and West Nile virus (WNV).
Hundreds of cases of this last disease have already been recorded in humans - with dozens of deaths - in neighboring European countries and also in Spain, with cases in humans and especially in horses from 2010 to the present. In 2020 there were 77 human cases in Andalusia with 7 deaths. As far as Catalonia is concerned, there has been at least one case of WNV in humans in 2007 and the circulation of the virus has been proven, since 2010, in wild birds. In 2018, the Service carried out the entomological inspection of the first case in horses in Catalonia and in 2020, 7 inspections were carried out for horses and wild birds, although without cases in humans, indicating a clear increase in the presence of this virus throughout the state and in Catalonia specifically. In 2022, a group of common mosquitoes infected with the virus was detected for the first time and there were, also for the first time, two cases in humans. Already in 2023, there are cases in horses, birds and humans in Baix Llobregat.
Travelers who may arrive sick with dengue, Zika or chikungunya and in the viremic phase, imply an immediate risk of starting a local outbreak, a fact provided for in the Protocol per a la vigilància i el control de les arbovirosis transmeses per mosquits a Catalunya, which was activated in 2014 to address this situation. Our MCS participated in the drafting of this Protocol, designing the part corresponding to entomological inspections and carrying out those derived from cases detected in the region and in the Barcelona district.
Since 2013, arbovirus outbreaks in Latin America in particular have implied a significant risk for countries like ours where a significant flow of people from the Caribbean area is received, as has previously occurred in neighboring countries such as France or Italy, where there has been local transmission of these ailments. Unfortunately, this risk has also been demonstrated in our country, with the declaration of a first case of indigenous dengue in October 2018 and another in 2019, both in Barcelona. In all these cases the MCS carried out the entomological diagnosis. Starting in 2020 and due to the increase in the presence of WNV, the protocol has been drafted the Protocol per a la vigilància i el control de la febre del virus del Nil occidental related to the transmission of this virus.
Vectors and viruses. Courtesy IRTA CReSAThis past 2022, a mosquito infected with the dengue virus was detected again
(in 2015 it was detected for the first time) in one of the entomological Inspections that the MCS carried out in a Barcelona town without any subsequent autochthonous case.
All these diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes that are abundant in Catalonia and especially in the region; Zika, dengue and chikungunya due to Aedes albopictus and WNV due to Culex pipiens mainly. The situation described requires work to control mosquito populations and health-related vector surveillance of mosquitoes in the region, which is assumed by the MCS.
Finally, it should be said that climate change could be causing a lengthening of the mosquito control season that is still being observed irregularly with the beginning and end of the control season often earlier and later than what was the general trend. The irregularity of the rains and their current decline, however, have a negative impact on the mosquitoes since the lack of water does not favor their larval breeding sites.
Links to news of diseases, in official institutions
Mosquito diseases in Europe, ECDC
Departament d'Acció Climàtica, Generalitat. WNV news in animals
Departament de Salut. Generalitat. WNV and other arbovirosis news in humans
Ministeri d'Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació. WNV news in animals
