Using mid-infrared spectroscopy and supervised machine-learning to identify vertebrate blood meals in the malaria vector, Anopheles arabiensis.

Journal: Malaria journal
PMID: 31146762

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The propensity of different Anopheles mosquitoes to bite humans instead of other vertebrates influences their capacity to transmit pathogens to humans. Unfortunately, determining proportions of mosquitoes that have fed on humans, i.e. Human Blood Index (HBI), currently requires expensive and time-consuming laboratory procedures involving enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) or polymerase chain reactions (PCR). Here, mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy and supervised machine learning are used to accurately distinguish between vertebrate blood meals in guts of malaria mosquitoes, without any molecular techniques.

Authors

  • Emmanuel P Mwanga
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania. emwanga@ihi.or.tz.
  • Salum A Mapua
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania.
  • Doreen J Siria
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania.
  • Halfan S Ngowo
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania.
  • Francis Nangacha
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania.
  • Joseph Mgando
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania.
  • Francesco Baldini
    Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
  • Mario González Jiménez
    School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
  • Heather M Ferguson
    1 Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow , Glasgow G61 1QH , UK.
  • Klaas Wynne
    School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
  • Prashanth Selvaraj
    Institute for Disease Modeling, Bellevue, WA, 98005, USA.
  • Simon A Babayan
    Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK.
  • Fredros O Okumu
    Environmental Health and Ecological Science Thematic Group, Ifakara Health Institute, Morogoro, Tanzania.

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