The tiger mosquito has been detected in 156 Spanish municipalities since 2023.

In response to the rapid spread of the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and the recent outbreaks of dengue and West Nile virus in Spain, the Ministry of Health and the citizen science initiative Mosquito Alert have strengthened the entomological surveillance system by incorporating a new version of the app's artificial intelligence algorithm.

This system enables faster , more accurate, and more coordinated detection of species of health concern, integrating citizen participation, automated analysis, and expert verification.

The launch of AIMA has facilitated the confirmation of the presence of the tiger mosquito in 156 Spanish municipalities since 2023. Furthermore, the Japanese mosquito (Aedes japonicus), another invasive species relevant to public health, has been detected in 10 northern municipalities (Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country).

The AIMA system automatically processes mosquito images submitted by citizens through the Mosquito Alert app. Every four minutes, the algorithm analyzes the observations received, identifies the species when possible , and sends a response to the contributor in less than five minutes. These images, once classified, are integrated into the Mosquito Alert public map.

If the detected species is found in a previously undocumented area, AIMA generates an alert . This is managed by the project's scientific team and sent to a network of experts for validation. Once verified, it is notified to the Health Alerts and Emergencies Coordination Center (CCAES), which informs the corresponding autonomous communities.

Balancing automation and human review

Citizen participation has allowed the collection of more than 19,000 observations in 2023, nearly 10,000 in 2024, and more than 4,600 so far in 2025. This volume of information poses a management challenge that AIMA helps solve through an initial automatic filtering . In the case of the tiger mosquito , the system correctly classifies 55 out of every 100 images received. Of these, 25 reach a confidence level above 98% and are published directly on the map. The remaining 75 are subject to expert review, maintaining a balance between technological efficiency and scientific precision.

Furthermore, the AIMA system is trained to recognize other species of health concern not yet present in Spain, such as Aedes aegypti, the main vector of dengue and yellow fever worldwide. It also differentiates between Aedes japonicus and Aedes koreicus, two invasive species in Europe, and has begun to classify native mosquitoes of the Culex genus, vectors of the West Nile virus, thus expanding the scope of entomological surveillance .

The Mosquito Alert system is based on citizen science, which has been incorporated two years ago into the Ministry of Health 's National Plan for the Prevention , Surveillance, and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases. Each photograph submitted contributes to mapping the spread of invasive species, complementing traditional sampling methods.

During 2023 , 165 invasive species alerts were confirmed in Spain, and 92 more were added in 2024. The combination of this human-machine system has made it possible to update the presence of the tiger mosquito in 156 municipalities (a single municipality can register multiple alerts) and the presence of the Japanese mosquito in another 10 in northern Spain (the latter belonging to Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country).

With the arrival of summer, citizens are once again encouraged to download the Mosquito Alert app and actively participate in surveillance by sending mosquito images or information about bites , thus strengthening the health system's response capacity.