Real-time malaria detection in the Amazon rainforest via drone-collected eDNA and portable qPCR.

ABSTRACT: Zoonotic malaria risk at human-wildlife-environment interfaces requires surveillance that integrates signals from reservoirs, vectors and the environment. We coupled a drone-based environmental DNA (eDNA) canopy swabbing approach with portable quantitative PCR (qPCR) to detect Plasmodium DNA in situ during a 24-h field exercise in the Amazon rainforest. Drone-lowered sterile swabs into the canopy, which were then extracted and subjected to a multiplex pan-Plasmodium assay targeting five human-infecting Plasmodium species (limit of detection 0.2 parasites μL^-1). Of 12 samples (10 canopy swabs, 2 field blanks; 13 total runs including repeats), one canopy swab amplified in duplicate (Ct = 28.7 and 29.23), while positive controls amplified as expected (Ct = 30.8

SUBMITTER: Ip YCA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12398916 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature