Mosquitos are one of the most horrific carries of viruses. Many of these viruses go on to infect humans in the form of malaria, yellow fever, dengue, WNV, JEV, chikungunya, and even Zika. Death by disease through the transmission of mosquitos lead to millions of deaths every year.
The Prakash lab at Stanford has developed an app called Abuzz, a mosquito monitoring program to allow people to track the movement and occurrence of mosquitos all over the world. Manu Prakash, the lead of the lab, wants to produce the most detailed global map if mosquito distribution. The app would tell citizens where the most dangerous mosquitos are present. This information could then be translated into developing efficient and quick control efforts. What this would require is having citizens download and use the mosquito app by record and submit the buzz of the mosquito. The app is designed to be fairly simple as it only relies on the recorded sound of the mosquito and then cleans up the sound to match it with the buzz of the particular mosquito species using an algorithm. Once the mosquito is identified, information about the mosquito will be sent to the user and the location of the mosquito will be marked on a website for people to access.
Since mosquito borne diseases seem to be concentrated in resource derived areas. The research lab is planning to release the app and training videos on how to use the app, so that global citizens and those in under resourced communities can participate in the platform.
Now this seems like a novel way to gain information and help eliminate mosquito-borne diseases, but if I see a mosquito I think I might be more inclined to swat it/run away. Many works and kinks need to be figured out. For instance, how can these under-resourcesd communities gain access to a cell phone to use the app. How can we make this app more accessible to them?
Jessica Ngo
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