NEWS 4: Ariadna Navarro

Treating mosquitoes may be a new way to fight malaria

“People have been exploring ways to control insect pests for an awful long time,” says Joshua Yukich. A strategy that kills malaria-causing parasites in mosquitoes “is pretty exciting.” It may be possible to make insecticide-treated bed nets even more effective by 
adding antimalarial compounds, he says.

Since 2000, an international effort to combat malaria in Africa has prevented an estimated 663 million cases, researchers say, largely thanks to insecticide-treated bed nets. The nets kill mosquitoes and help protect sleepers from bites. But that progress has been threatened with the emergence of insecticide-resistant mosquitoes.

An “autopsy” of the mosquitoes seven to nine days after an infectious blood meal found the insects were parasite free after treatment with certain doses of the drug, the researchers say.

Atovaquone, which is used to treat malaria in people, kills Plasmodium parasites by inhibiting a protein in the mitochondria, the energy factories inside cells. But it’s possible using antimalarial drugs to treat mosquitoes could result in the parasites becoming resistant to the drugs, endangering crucial therapies. So Catteruccia and her colleagues would like to test other compounds that can kill the parasites in mosquitoes.

- Link: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/treating-mosquitoes-drugs-new-way-fight-malaria 

- Date: February 27, 2019

- Scientific scope: medicine

- Glossary: 
- Atovaquone: Atovaquone is a medication used to treat or prevent:

1. For pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP)
2. For toxoplasmosis
3. For malaria
4. For babesia

-Commentary:

I see a bit impossible that using antimalarial drugs to treat mosquitoes could cure malaria not because of mosquitoes could get used to these antimalarial drugs and continue transmitting the disease (this too), its because the majority of persons that have malaria, are poor people who live in Africa and couldnt afford to buy antimalarial drugs for mosquito traps. That means that even if scientist will find a solution for malaria, just the rich people could get the cure and the majority would keep suffering. So when it happens, it would be nice that the governments would create associations to help all the people that can't buy the medicine and malaria wouldnt exist anymore.