Tracking SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in rural communities using blood-fed mosquitoes: a proof-of-concept study.

Background: The spread of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be well monitored and understood in areas without capacity for effective disease surveillance. Countries with a young population will have disproportionately large numbers of asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic infections, further hindering detection of infection. Sero-surveillance on a country-wide scale by trained medical professionals may be limited in a resource-limited setting such as Mali.

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in rural communities using blood-fed mosquitoes.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 cannot be well monitored and understood in areas without capacity for effective disease surveillance. Countries with a young population will have disproportionately large numbers of asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic infections, further hindering detection of infection in the population. Sero-surveillance on a country-wide scale by trained medical professionals may be limited in scope in resource limited setting such as Mali.

A novel fluorescence and DNA combination for versatile, long-term marking of mosquitoes.

Current mark-release-recapture methodologies are limited in their ability to address complex problems in vector biology, such as studying multiple groups overlapping in space and time. Additionally, limited mark retention, reduced post-marking survival and the large effort in marking, collection and recapture all complicate effective insect tracking.We have developed and evaluated a marking method using a fluorescent dye (SmartWater) combined with synthetic DNA tags to informatively and efficiently mark adult mosquitoes using an airbrush pump and nebulizer.

Marking mosquitoes in their natural larval sites using H-enriched water: a promising approach for tracking over extended temporal and spatial scales.

Background: 1.Tracking mosquitoes using current methods of mark-release-recapture are limited to small spatial and temporal scales exposing major gaps in understanding long-range movements and extended survival. Novel approaches to track mosquitoes may yield fresh insights into their biology which improves intervention activities to reduce disease transmission.