Last Updated: 04/08/2016
Using low-cost near-infra red spectroscopy to rapidly identify potentially infectious mosquitoes and to evaluate control interventions in rural and remote settings
Objectives
The main objective of this study was to use a low-cost near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to estimate age and distinguish morphologically identical major African malaria vectors (Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles arabiensis).
The project team compared the accuracy of a recently developed tool (the NIRS) for prediction of the age of An. gambiae and An arabiensis to the existing gold standards, which involves dissection and observation of the unwinding of ovarian tracheoles to enable a crude determination of whether mosquitoes have previously laid eggs or not.
Despite the use of ITNs, there were 214 million new cases of malaria worldwide in 2015, with an estimated 438,000 malaria-related deaths. Since the disease can only be transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes that are at least 10 days old, the ability to tell the age and abundance of the vectors is key to identifying transmission hot spots. However, available age and species prediction techniques are time-consuming and costly for resource-limited areas.
Therefore, cheap near infrared spectrometry will be used to identify important vectors and tell if they are old enough to transmit disease, a potentially easy way to monitor vector control.
Oct 2013 — Sep 2015
$97,045
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