Large ceramic pots ex. Indonesia - the source of Aedes aegypti recently intercepted at Darwin port 9 April 2010

Abstract

Aedes aegypti was detected at Perkins Shipping in the Darwin port area on 9 April 2010 in two Biogents Sentinel (BG) adult mosquito surveillance traps baited with CO2 situated 200m apart. This was the third time during the 2009/2010 wet season that an exotic vector had been detected at the site where both international and domestic cargo is received and dispatched. In January 2010, Ae. aegypti larvae were found by an Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) officer in the drainage hatch of a portable 6m fuel tank-container. A period of enhanced surveillance for Ae. aegypti followed the January detection, and during this period (on 5 February 2010) 3 male Aedes albopictus adults were captured in the BG traps (Nguyen et al. 2010). This report presents the details of the interception and follow-up response by AQIS and Medical Entomology (ME) for the current April 2010 detection of Ae. aegypti in the Darwin port area.