Laser Vaporization e-Nose method for the detection of transmitter of Chagas disease

Abstract

The aim of this work is to implement a laboratory analytical procedure based on the selective detection of the volatile compound with Laser Vaporization electronic nose technique (LV e-Nose), with the purpose of distinguish between triatomines of different sex and development stage, transmitters of Trypanosoma cruzi, agent of the Chagas disease (ECh). A chemometric method based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) was performed in order to analyze the data coming from the e-Nose. The results allowed distinguishing between male, female and nympha stages, according to their volatile emissions. The proposed methodology resulted cost-effective, has good sensitivity, acceptability and improve the effectiveness. Although a greater number of samples must be analyzed, our results provide new interesting clues as a proof of concept to advance in the operational research for the surveillance of the ECh. Therefore, it could contribute to the sustainability and coverage of control programs in scenarios of the low density of vectors (interruption of transmission step).