Vicente López, Argentina
Using AI to Detect Dengue-Carrying Mosquitoes in Real-Time
Project Type:
Environment, Health and Wellbeing, Technology
At a Glance
Vicente López developed a device powered by AI to instantly detect dengue-carrying mosquitoes with 90% accuracy, helping the City’s response time go from ten days to real-time.
The City’s data-driven recycling strategy implements weekly collections, new trash receptacles and environmental awareness campaigns. The goal is to reduce the amount of trash sent to landfill by 25%.
The 1000 Days Program aims to improve the comprehensive health of pregnant women, expectant mothers and children from 0 to 3 years old, especially those in vulnerable communities.
Vicente López is one of the first Latin American cities to publish a proclamation for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, helping the City stay updated and promote good practices in the use of Generative AI.
The City of Vicente López, Argentina, has a new tool in the fight against dengue. With artificial intelligence that can detect the presence of dengue-carrying mosquito species in real time.
The device is one of many data-based initiatives being developed in municipal government and has the potential to save lives in South America and around the world. As temperatures rise, dengue spreads to cities where it was not a significant problem before.
This is the case in Argentina, where the number of dengue cases shattered the country’s previous recorded records in 2023 and again in 2024. People who are bitten by a mosquito carrying the dengue virus often experience high fever and severe headaches and joint pain. In severe cases, dengue is deadly.
“The use of data helps us improve our management and provide quality public services. It is not only about improving our processes, but also about having a positive impact on the daily lives of our neighbors.”
35 mosquito traps equipped with artificial intelligence were placed throughout the city, with 35 more planned to be installed by 2025.
As part of its efforts to combat this disease, the municipal government has placed dozens of special AI-powered mosquito traps near health centers, schools, sports fields and other places in the municipality. The traps are approximately the size of a 500ml bottle and they use a fan, along with an attractant, to attract mosquitoes through a hole. Once inside, a camera takes a photo of the insect and sends the image to a database, hosted in the Amazon Web Services cloud, containing thousands of mosquito photographs.
That’s where artificial intelligence comes into play. AI classifies photographs to determine if the mosquito in the trap is the Aedes A species aegypti that transmits dengue, with an accuracy greater than 90 percent. This data is sent to the municipal health inspectors, who closely observe the flow of information. “When the alert arrives, a prevention protocol is activated and immediate fumigation,” said Juan Pablo Fittipaldi, Secretary of Digital Transformation of the Municipality.
It is too early to know if this innovation is having a real effect on dengue cases. However, what is clear is that Vicente López’s high-tech, data-driven approach has accelerated the speed with which they respond to the problem. The city’s previous detection systems relied on manual collection and analysis of samples that took up to ten days to detect the presence of dengue in the municipality. The new traps reduce that detection time to approximately one hour.
2 weeks to 1 hour The time to detect and respond to mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus was reduced from two weeks to one hour.
The idea for this solution dates back to 2017, when two residents, the Barceló brothers, attended a hackathon at the Vicente López University Center that was aimed at using city data to find new ways to solve problems. They came up with the idea of the trap, which has gone through several iterations since then. The municipality is eager to share the solution with other cities where dengue is a threat to residents. Today, parts of the software code that feed the solution are freely available for anyone to use.
Through its innovative artificial intelligence traps and robust data management, Vicente López proactively confronts the growing threat of dengue and lays the foundation for a healthier community.
“What Works Cities Certification is not just about receiving an award, it is a process. It is about continuing to improve our management and being part of a network of cities that work with data to improve the lives of neighbors.”