Mosquito News and Research

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New birth-control strategy for mosquitoes can combat malaria

Using information about the unique mating practices of the male malaria mosquito ― which, unlike any other insect, inserts a plug to seal its sperm inside the female ― scientists are zeroing in on a birth-control drug for Anopheles mosquitoes, deadly carriers of the disease that threatens 3 billion people, has infected more than 215 million and kills 655,000 annually.

20 Aug 2012

New book on malaria tells story of Plasmodium falciparum Genome Project

Few infectious diseases can rival malaria's ability to kill and cripple. Each year the disease causes hundreds of millions of people to be sickened and more than a million - mostly African children under the age of five - die.

18 Aug 2012

CDC reports worst West Nile virus outbreak in the U.S.

This past year's mild winter and wet spring could be contributing to the worst West Nile virus outbreak since the disease was first detected in the United States in 1999. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more cases of the virus so far this year than any year. As of August 14, almost 700 cases had been reported across the nation, including 26 deaths. This year also marks the earliest reported case of West Nile virus in New Jersey.

18 Aug 2012

Curcumin shows promise in fighting devastating viruses

The popular spice turmeric packs more than just flavor - it shows promise in fighting devastating viruses, Mason researchers recently discovered.

17 Aug 2012

Clinton tours health center in Senegal's capital on first stop of 10-day Africa trip

On the first stop of a 10-day tour of Africa, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stopped at the Phillipe Maguilen Senghor Health Center in Dakar, Senegal, where Awa Marie Coll-Seck, the country's Minister of Health, "explained to Secretary Clinton how these operational centers dramatically improve maternal and child health," according to a post in USAID's "IMPACTblog."

3 Aug 2012

No 'quick fix' for eradicating the malaria mosquito

The fact that the global death toll from malaria has dropped by 25 percent over the last ten years would suggest that efforts to control the malaria mosquito are succeeding. But control methods are still largely based on chemical insecticides. A risky business, according to entomologists and experts in biological pesticides from America and Wageningen.

27 Jul 2012

Health ministers from Southeast Asia asked to support U.N. in stemming spread of drug-resistant malaria in region

"Health ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are being asked to support United Nations efforts to stem the spread of drug-resistant strains of malaria, especially along the borders of Cambodia and Burma," VOA News reports.

7 Jul 2012

Powerful new drug to treat malaria

A powerful new drug to treat malaria - the invention of a University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy researcher -- will help take the bite out of malaria. In the United States, a mosquito bite seems harmless, but in developing countries it means more than 655,000 deaths a year - mostly in children.

7 Jul 2012

Low rainfall and high temperatures associated with high numbers of mosquito larvae

Rainfall and temperature affect the abundance of two mosquito species linked to West Nile Virus in storm catch basins in suburban Chicago, two University of Illinois researchers report.

7 Jul 2012

Intense war against malaria outlined by two studies in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

A pair of provocative studies in the July 2012 issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH) provides a window into the intense ground war now underway against malaria.

4 Jul 2012

Cuban company's sales of larvicides to fight malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Africa continue despite U.N. concern, Miami Herald reports

The Cuban state-owned company Labiofam "is increasing sales of its mosquito larvicides to fight malaria in Africa, despite cautions by U.N. experts that such products have limited use and are not the most cost-effective method of attacking the disease," the Miami Herald reports.

4 Jul 2012

UTMB researchers improve existing experimental vaccine for Rift Valley fever virus

University of Texas Medical Branch researchers have significantly improved an existing experimental vaccine for Rift Valley fever virus, making possible the development of a more effective defense against the dangerous mosquito-borne pathogen.

28 Jun 2012

Authors propose mathematical model to study malaria transmission

Malaria affects over 200 million individuals every year and kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The disease varies greatly from region to region in the species that cause it and in the carriers that spread it. It is easily transmitted across regions through travel and migration. This results in outbreaks of the disease even in regions that are essentially malaria-free, such as the United States.

21 Jun 2012

Tips to avoid becoming a mosquito meal

Summer has barely begun but it's likely many people have already encountered one of the season's most ubiquitous pests - the mosquito. As is the case with many other insects, mosquitoes have made an early emergence after a mild winter and rainy spring. The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) warns that this might be one of the worst seasons yet, so break out the repellant.

18 Jun 2012

U.S. Africa command establishes regional task forces to combat malaria in Africa

"Two new task forces being established by U.S. Africa Command Africom have set their sights on one of the biggest killers on the continent: the mosquito," the American Forces Press Service reports.

15 Jun 2012

IBBR, Sanaria to receive Phase II SBIR grant from NIAID for malaria vaccine

Sanaria Inc., a privately held company in Rockville, Maryland, and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) of the University of Maryland College Park announce the receipt of a multi-year Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

14 Jun 2012

Transgenic mosquitoes can control malaria

Mosquitoes bred to be unable to infect people with the malaria parasite are an attractive approach to helping curb one of the world's most pressing public health issues, according to UC Irvine scientists.

13 Jun 2012

Magazine examines efforts to biologically alter bugs to fight human diseases

Pacific Standard magazine examines efforts by researchers around the globe to biologically modify bugs to fight human diseases, such as dengue fever. "Biologically altering bugs isn't entirely new; it's been done for nearly half a century to protect crops. ...

8 Jun 2012

Researchers determine function of series proteins within the mosquito

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have, for the first time, determined 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.

8 Jun 2012

Independent evaluation of PMI presented to U.S. Congress

The Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD) at Boston University on Thursday delivered its report on the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), released in February, to the U.S. Congress, IIP Digital reports, noting the "independent evaluation team finds that the [PMI] has been 'very successful' in reducing children's deaths from the mosquito-borne parasitic disease, but also warns that the program must gear up if those gains are to be sustained."

8 Jun 2012