“Surveillance of mosquito infection status is critical for planning and deployment of proper mosquito control initiatives. Concurrently, Wolbachia is being widely used as a control method for arboviral transmission. Point-of-care (POC) detection assays are necessary for monitoring the infection prevalence and geographic range of viruses as well as Wolbachia in mosquito vector populations.“

SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers developed a highly sensitive quantitative PCR, or qPCR, method for the detection and quantitation of dengue and Zika virus in individual mosquitoes using the portable Hyris bCUBE device, introducing a new tool for mosquito surveillance in areas facing outbreaks, according to data presented at ASM Microbe.