The Furvela tent-trap Mk 1.1 for the collection of outdoor biting mosquitoes

Outdoor transmission of malaria and other vector borne diseases remains a problem. Suitable methods for assessing vector density are required and a number of tent-traps, for the collection for outdoor biting mosquitoes, have recently been developed. Only one such trap, the Furvela tent-trap, does not require an ‘entry’ behavior on the part of the mosquito. It remains the cheapest and lightest tent-trap described. It takes less than two minutes to install and is the only trap described that uses readily available components. We also describe recent modifications to the trap, which make it even easier to set up, provide an SOP and describe some recent experiments examining the effect of the addition of light to the trap. We also provide a short review of work so far undertaken with the trap in Mozambique, Ghana and Tanzania. The trap provides the closest approximation to CDC light-traps, widely used to collect indoor biting mosquitoes. This enables the effect of a number of interventions on mosquito density and indoor/outdoor behaviors to be determined.