14 - The Underdog Trap: Why the BG-GAT deserves a second look

Abstract: The Biogents Gravid Aedes Trap (BG‑GAT) is a passive, low‑cost trap designed to target gravid dengue vectors with high sensitivity and species specificity. In urban Aedes surveillance, the amount of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus that the gold-standard trap BG‑Sentinel collects in 24 h, a BG‑GAT typically catches in ~1–2 weeks.

While this seems like a drawback, there are several aspects of the BG-GAT that may make you reconsider to add them to your monitoring scheme. The GATs passivity and specificity can improve operational efficiency for targeted Aedes surveillance. In routine operations, servicing and lab processing patterns between BG-GATs and BG-Sentinels diverge considerably. Additionally, lower hardware cost of the BG-GAT enables coverage of bigger areas.

Here, we share operational evidence on workload with BG‑GATs, and outline when each trap type adds the most value to a surveillance portfolio. Rather than replacing BG‑Sentinel, BG‑GAT offers a complementary, scalable option for sustained detection and trends of dengue vectors. We will discuss trade‑offs, deployment scenarios, and decision points for program managers.