Assessing the impact of climate conditions on the distribution of mosquito species in Qatar

Furqan Tahir; Devendra Bansal; Atiq Ur Rehman; Salah B Ajjur; Sini Skariah; Samir B Belhaouari; Hamad Al-Romaihi; Mohammed H J Al-Thani; Elmoubasher Farag; Ali A Sultan; Sami G Al-Ghamdi

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.970694

Assessing the impact of climate conditions on the distribution of mosquito species in Qatar

Front Public Health. 2023 Jan 16:10:970694. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.970694. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar.
² Department of Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Doha, Qatar.
³ Division of Information and Computing Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, Haripur, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation-Education City, Doha, Qatar.
⁶ Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Qatar is a peninsular country with predominantly hot and humid weather, with 88% of the total population being immigrants. As such, it leaves the country liable to the introduction and dissemination of vector-borne diseases, in part due to the presence of native arthropod vectors. Qatar's weather is expected to become warmer with the changing climatic conditions across the globe. Environmental factors such as humidity and temperature contribute to the breeding and distribution of different types of mosquito species in a given region. If proper and timely precautions are not taken, a high rate of particular mosquito species can result in the transmission of various vector-borne diseases. In this study, we analyzed the environmental impact on the probability of occurrence of different mosquito species collected from several different sites in Qatar. The Naive Bayes model was used to calculate the posterior probability for various mosquito species. Further, the resulting Naive Bayes predictions were used to define the favorable environmental circumstances for identified mosquito species. The findings of this study will help in the planning and implementation of an active surveillance system and preventive measures to curb the spread of mosquitoes in Qatar.

Keywords: Naive Bayes; Qatar; climate change; environment; malaria; mosquitoes; vector-borne disease (VBD).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Bayes Theorem
Culicidae*
Mosquito Vectors
Qatar
Vector Borne Diseases*
Weather

Grants and funding

This publication was made possible by NPRP-Standard (NPRP-S) Twelfth (12th) Cycle grant NPRP12S-0212-190073 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). DB and EF benefit from an NPRP grant (NPRP12S-0310-190284) from the QNRF. The findings herein reflect the work and are solely the responsibility of the authors.