Vector Burden of <em>Aedes aegypti </em>and <em>Aedes albopictus </em>Populations in Residential Versus Non-Residential Areas of the Urban Environment in Tapachula, Chiapas, Southeastern Mexico

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Abstract

Dengue outbreaks highlight the need to quantify how environments sustain populations of the mosquito vectors Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Most control activities focus on households, while non-residential premises receive little attention. We conducted a cross-sectional ovitraps survey in August 2025 in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico, deploying 593 ovitraps: 297 in residential neighborhoods and 293 in non-residential sites. We collected 42,758 eggs; 61.5% (n = 26,316) came from residential areas and 38.5% (n = 16,442) from non-residential areas. Ovitrap positivity was higher in residential versus in non-residential areas (92.6% vs. 87.0%; p = 0.025), and the mean number of eggs per ovitrap (88.6 ± 5.1 vs. 56.1 ± 3.3 eggs; p &lt; 0.001), yielding 298.0 vs. 175.3 eggs/ha, respectively. From a subsample of 16,965 eggs, 7,543 adults emerged (44.5%), dominated by Ae. aegypti in residential areas (83.3%) and Ae. albopictus in non-residential areas (80.0%). Vector burden differed by species: Ae. aegypti densities were higher in residential areas (51.0 vs. 4.5 adults/ha), whereas Ae. albopictus densities were higher in non-residential sites (18.2 vs. 10.2 adults/ha). These patterns show that both residential and non-residential premises are important sources of dengue vectors and should be included in integrated surveillance and control strategies.

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