QUESTION Why is there no mention here of all the work being done on biolarvicides - the low cost solution for malaria control? ANSWER Actually, we had a question a while ago about the ECOWAS program in West Africa, which centers around the use of biolarvicides. A link to that question, and the answer, is provided here: http://malaria.com/questions/ecowas-malaria. The most common form … [Read more...]
Researchers Discover Proteins in Mosquitoes that Help Fight Malaria Infection
Researchers have discovered the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans. Together, these proteins are known as immune deficiency (Imd) pathway signal transducing factors, are analogous to an electrical circuit. As each factor is switched on or off it triggers or … [Read more...]
Malaria Mosquito
QUESTION Which mosquito causes malaria? ANSWER It is important to note that mosquitoes do not CAUSE malaria—the disease itself is caused by microscopic, single-celled animals called Plasmodium. These Plasmodium parasites live and reproduce inside the mosquito, and when the mosquito bites a person, the parasites are transferred into that person's blood via the mosquito's saliva. If … [Read more...]
How does malaria spread?
QUESTION: How does malaria spread? ANSWER: Malaria is a vector-borne disease; this means that it has to be spread through a "vector" species, which in this case are female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. The female mosquito needs to feed on blood in order to produce eggs; most species lay eggs every 2-3 days, which means each female mosquito needs to take very regular blood … [Read more...]
Mosquitos Make Proteins to Handle Heat Spike of Hot Blood Meals
Mosquitoes make proteins to help them handle the stressful spike in body temperature that’s prompted by their hot blood meals, a new study has found. The mosquito’s eating pattern is inherently risky: Taking a blood meal involves finding warm-blooded hosts, avoiding detection, penetrating tough skin and evading any host immune response, not to mention the slap of a human hand. Until … [Read more...]
Malaria Mosquitoes Reveal Pathogen Defense Strategies
In analyzing malaria mosquitoes in sub-Saharan Africa, a Cornell-led team of researchers finds evidence of two very different evolutionary paths in the immune systems of neighboring mosquito groups. Genes in animal immune systems may evolve in one of two main ways in the constant fight against pathogens: They may evolve diverse forms of genes (alleles) to fight a wide variety of pathogens, or … [Read more...]
APL1 Malaria Resistance Genes of Anopheles Gambiae
Immune defense genes are sometimes highly variable in host populations, reflecting selective pressure to combat diverse pathogens. In other instances, where there are only a few dominant pathogens, natural selection may favor only one or a few defense alleles. Here, we show that both adaptive strategies can occur in the same genes under different circumstances. We examined diversity in the … [Read more...]
Evolution of Malaria-Transmitting Mosquitoes
Researchers have found that the major malaria-transmitting mosquito species, Anopheles gambiae, is evolving into two separate species with different traits, a development that could both complicate malaria control efforts and potentially require new disease prevention methods. A. gambiae is the most common vector of human malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, where rates of the disease are highest. … [Read more...]