Advancing age grading techniques for Glossina morsitans morsitans, vectors of African trypanosomiasis, through mid-infrared spectroscopy and machine learning.

ABSTRACT: Tsetse are the insects responsible for transmitting African trypanosomes, which cause sleeping sickness in humans and animal trypanosomiasis in wildlife and livestock. Knowing the age of these flies is important when assessing the effectiveness of vector control programs and modelling disease risk. Current methods to assess fly age are, however, labour-intensive, slow, and often inaccurate as skilled personnel are in short supply. Mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS), a fast and cost-effective tool to accurately estimate several biological traits of insects, offers a promising alternative. This is achieved by characterising the biochemical composition of the insect cuticle using infrared light coupled with machine-learning (ML) algorithms to estimate the traits of interest. We tested the perfo

SUBMITTER: Pazmino-Betancourth M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11407438 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature