What is a primary reason to use targeted surveillance and hotspot management in urban mosquito control?

• A. To spray the entire city regardless of data.
• B. To ignore surveillance data and adhere to a fixed schedule.
• C. To focus surveillance and treatment on identified hotspots, maximizing efficiency and reducing non-target impacts.
• D. To rely solely on community reports.

Answer: (C)

Focusing control where mosquitoes are actually present—using surveillance data to map hotspots and concentrate treatment there—maximizes impact while minimizing collateral effects. By identifying areas with the highest adult activity or breeding sites, resources such as larvicides or targeted adulticide applications can be directed to those zones, leading to greater population suppression with less chemical use overall. This approach improves efficiency, lowers costs, and reduces exposure of non-target environments and creatures. Spraying the entire city wastes resources and can cause unnecessary environmental impact, while ignoring data or relying only on general schedules misses real risk patterns and delays response. Relying solely on community reports can overlook less visible hotspots and lead to uneven control, making hotspot-targeted surveillance the most effective strategy in urban settings.