title: Evaluation of a protocol for remote identification of mosquito vector species reveals BG-Sentinel trap as an efficient tool for Anopheles gambiae outdoor collection in Burkina Faso.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Feasibility and costs of monitoring efforts aimed to monitor mosquito species are strictly dependent on the presence of skilled entomologists directly in the field. However, in several contexts this is not possible or easy to organize, thus limiting the possibility to obtain crucial information on presence/abundance of potential disease vectors and of new invasive species. Digital imaging approaches could be extremely useful in the frame of medical entomology to overcome this limit. This work describes a surveillance approach to collect and morphologically identify host-seeking malaria vectors based on remote transmission of digital images of specimens collected with ad hoc modified traps.
  
  
  METHODS
  CDC light trap (CDC) and the BG-Sentinel trap (BG), both baited with BG-lure and CO2, were modified in order to have collected mosquitoes immobilized on a bi-dimensional surface. The performance of the two traps in the field was comparatively tested by Latin-square experiments in two villages of Burkina Faso under low and high mosquito densities. The efficiency of identifications based the inspection of digital images versus microscopic identifications of collected specimens was compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1,519 mosquitoes belonging to 16 species were collected, of which 88.5% were microscopically identified as Anopheles gambiae s.l. (mainly Anopheles coluzzii, 85.7%). During dry season BG collected 15 times more females than CDC outdoors, whereas indoors the BG collected 0.4 times less than CDC. During rainy season the ratio BG/CDC was 6.4 and 0.7 outdoors and indoors, respectively. The efficiency of digital images versus microscopic identifications of collected specimens was 97.9%, 95.6% and 81.5% for Culicidae, Anophelinae and An. gambiae s.l., respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results strongly encourage the use of BG-trap for collecting host-seeking An. gambiae particularly in the outdoor environment, providing new perspectives to the challenge of collecting this fraction of the biting population, whose epidemiological relevance is increasing due to the success of large-scale implementation of indoor malaria vector control strategies. Moreover, results show that the transmission of digital images of specimens collected by the ad hoc modified host-seeking traps efficiently allows identification of malaria vectors, thus opening the perspective to easily carry out mosquito monitoring also in the absence of entomologists directly in the field.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Università di Roma "Sapienza", Rome, Italy. marco.pombi@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pombi
authors.affiliation: Centre National de Recherche et Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. guelbeogo.cnrfp@fasonet.bf.
authors.forename: Wamdaogo M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Guelbeogo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Università di Roma "Sapienza", Rome, Italy. maria.calzetta@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Calzetta
authors.affiliation: Centre National de Recherche et Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. n.fale.cnlp@fasonet.bf.
authors.forename: N'Fale
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sagnon
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Roma "Sapienza", Rome, Italy. vincenzo.petrarca@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Petrarca
authors.affiliation: Ministero della Difesa - Stato Maggiore della Difesa, Rome, Italy. vfp.lagioia@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: La Gioia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Università di Roma "Sapienza", Rome, Italy. ale.dellatorre@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: della Torre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D002050:Burkina Faso; D004772:Entomology / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000379:methods*