Mid-infrared spectroscopy for rapid determination of mosquito infection status

A major impediment to effective public health responses during mosquito-borne disease outbreaks is the time it takes to process field caught mosquitoes, which we term the “process pipeline impediment.” Prior work has demonstrated the utility of mid-infrared spectroscopy to accurately identify and characterize age/gonotrophic status of adult mosquitoes. Here, we test the ability of this technology to determine infection status of mosquitoes with a filarial pathogen. Using a single leg from female mosquitoes, we were able to determine the infection status of Anopheles quadrimaculatus with Dirofilaria immitis (the causative agent of dog heartworm) with 96.8% accuracy in classifying samples as infected or not. While the molecular-level mechanisms underlying the differences between infected and non-infected mosquitoes remain unknown, we offer several plausible hypotheses. Our results suggest the potential for this technology to address the “process pipeline impediment” through the rapid identification, aging, and infection status determination of field caught mosquitoes for this and other pathogens.